Bahrain halts 4G / LTE spectrum license auction

Telecom Lead Middle East: Bahrain has halted an auction to sell 4G / LTE spectrum license after a wireless broadband operator appealed against its exclusion from the sale.

Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) was due to auction 12 lots of spectrum primarily for LTE / 4G networks from March 31 and the winners were expected to be announced in mid-April.

But the regulator has now halted the process “pending further notice” following an appeal by menatelecom, according to a statement on its website.

Mobile subscriber growth in Bahrain in Q2 2012 was 0.6 percent, while ARPU increased 10 percent as a result of growing mobile data usage. This means that 4G will bring cheers to the telecom industry in Bahrain.

The spectrum auction was originally open to all bidders, potentially allowing new entrants into an already crowded market.

The three mobile operators – Bahrain Telecommunications (Batelco), Kuwait’s Zain and Viva Bahrain, an affiliate of Saudi Telecom – opposed this and they appeared to get their wish when the TRA last month issued a notice saying the government had decided to limit the auction to this trio.

But menatelecom, which uses WiMax technology to provide wireless broadband, has filed three related cases in Bahraini courts, the TRA told Reuters, which appeal against this decision and also request that the auction be delayed.

The next court hearing is on Thursday, the TRA said.

Bahrain’s telecoms market is moving rapidly towards data-centric, high-value services as operators attempt to offset revenue shortfall from traditional voice services. This trend is reflected by operators’ product development and network investment strategies.

In September 2012, Zain announced plans to invest $100 million in the latter part of 2012 and in 2013 to upgrade its network and build a new data center.

This followed the launch of cloud computing services by incumbent operator Batelco in Q3 2012. Batelco’s launch of  infrastructure-management-as-a-service (IMaaS) is part of the company’s wider cloud computing strategy, according to a report by BMI.

Bahrain’s 1.3 million population is also served by about 10 internet providers in arguably the most liberalised telecoms market in the Gulf.

This has cut prices for consumers, but sector earnings are shrinking and mobile penetration is about 160 percent, or 1.6 subscriptions per resident, so there is little scope for growth in terms of customer numbers.

Key telecom parameters – 2010; 2012

(Source: BuddeComm)

editor@telecomlead.com