TRA continuous work on 'Quality of Service'

Whilst there is in general a good level of consistency between reported figures there are several exceptions which require further investigation and validation by TRA before results are made available for the general public.

The objective is to complete the investigation in time for publishing a report based on the measurements submitted for second quarter of 2009.

The publishing of the Quality of Service Regulation in September 2008 underlines the importance to TRA of providing consumers with elements to better inform their choice of service provider. The Regulation places obligations on Licensed Operators for measuring and reporting specific Quality of Service parameters that can then be compared across different licensed operators. The reporting requirements specified in the Regulation will also facilitate TRA's monitoring of the telecommunications industry in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Mr. Alan Horne, TRA General Director, stated:

"Consumers are already receiving the benefits of increased competition through increases in the number of competing service providers and the effects of this on decreasing prices for services. However competition and choice should not be at the expense of service quality and performance. To protect consumer's rights and their ability to make better informed choices, not only based on price, but also based on quality and company performance with respect to customer complaint and service fault handling, TRA will be publishing comparative indicators for numerous categories including: Service Provision, Reported Faults, Service Restoration, Billing Accuracy, Complaints and Network Measurements."

Mr. Eric Dunand, TRA Technical Advisor responsible for the collection and publication of the Quality of Service parameters, added, "In order to provide meaningful comparative indicators which can be published, TRA is required to validate the submissions by operators to ensure that the parameters are truly comparable and do not lead to misinformed decisions. There is a good level of cooperation from the industry and on the basis of encouraging progress made TRA expects to be in a position to publish the quality of service parameters based on the reporting period ending June 2009."