TRA to open the financial bid for a radio spectrum license

The bid will be opened at 1 pm (Bahrain local time) at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Diplomatic Area.

On March 5th TRA had received two registration of interest in the auction process. At the due time and date for submission (3pm April 23rd 2009) a single Bid was received in response to the "Invitation to tender for the competitive award of a frequency licence to operate in the GSM 1800MHz guard band". The bidder was Bahrain Broadband, a company registered in Bahrain in which Kleos S.A.L. has a 49% stake.

This received Bid has now been reviewed for completeness and been assessed by TRA from both technical and commercial perspectives in accordance with the requirements of the ITT and the standard licence application review process of TRA. TRA confirm the Bid to be compliant with the rules of the ITT and hereby announce Bahrain Broadband as a "Qualified Bidder".

Their financial bid will be opened on the 17th May 2009.

TRA's General Director, Mr. Alan Horne, complimented Bahrain Broadband on their perseverance in this process. He stated

"Bahrain Broadband have indicated that they have already invested more than BD 300,000 in bringing to Bahrain advanced wireless technology and conducting extensive trials, supervised by TRA, to demonstrate that it does not interfere with other wireless based services including the operations of Mobile licensees."

The use of the GSM Guard Band frequencies will allow important niche services to be provided, which require wireless connection, e.g. broadband, home delivery services, telemetry services for fleet vehicles, public utilities and wireless security. Such user applications can be satisfied by the use of innovative IP based technologies.