Batelco continues to make strong contributions to Bahrain's future

Chairman at Batelco, Hassan Ali Juma, announced a BD 65.2 million profit for Batelco compared with BD 64.7 million for the same period last year which is an increase of 1 per cent. The outstanding growth resulted mainly from an increase in gross revenue from domestic and regional markets.

"Batelco's efforts are being translated into the infrastructure of the local economy by encouraging local and international investors to come to Bahrain. Our focus on growth coupled with our full support of various sectors with advanced telecommunication and IT solutions are the keys to our success," he says.

"The loyalty of our customers, and the confidence they place in us will be rewarded with the knowledge that all our achievements will be directed back not only to the growth of the economy, but to the community at large," he elaborates.

The chairman takes this opportunity to express his sincere thanks and appreciation to all board members, members of the executive committee and all employees for their commendable efforts that resulted in these outstanding results and effectively contributed to improvement of telecommunication services in the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Peter Kaliaropoulos, Chief Executive at Batelco, praised the positive outcome as it highlights employees' efforts contributing to achieving these impressive results. "The organisation continues a major transformation to improve our customers experience, introduce innovation in products and services such as 123CALL and Home Delivery, and is currently focused on nurturing and developing young Bahrainis for various roles in ICT services, marketing and sales."

In addition to this, there is the perpetual challenge of an ever increasing competitive environment. With 39 telecommunication licensed service providers in Bahrain alone, the company's reaction to the competition is to strive to improve the customer experience and overall "value for service".

Peter explains, "This year alone we have allocated BD17 million for enhancing mobile coverage, vitally important when more than 10 million phone calls are currently being handled every single day."

The positive financial gains will also fund investment into initiatives such as the BD21 million Bahrain Broadband project, which will ensure that the whole of Bahrain will have access to the internet within the next five years.

He adds, "Our profitable outcome is a direct reflection of our customers' trust in the Batelco brand and service and the efforts of our employees. Our use of latest technologies, products and services, combined with our unrivalled knowledge of the market is strengthening consumer confidence. In return we are further investing in Bahrain to improve Bahrain's competitiveness in the GCC and Middle East region as a communications and ICT centre of excellence."