Telecommunications inBahrain are provided by the Bahrain Telecommunications Company, trading asBatelco, as well as other companies such asZain andSTC.[1]
Prior to 1981 telecommunications services were provided by two separate departments: national services were provided by the Bahrain Telephone Company and international services byCable & Wireless of theUnited Kingdom. These were combined in 1981 to form Batelco. Since then, other telecommunications companies have entered the market.[1]
When Batelco was founded in 1981, Bahrain had 45,627telephone lines in use. By 1982, the number reached 50,000. In 1985, the country's firstfibre optic cable was installed. Batelco was amonopoly in the telecommunications sector until 2003. By 1999, the company had around 100,000 mobile contracts.[1]
In 2002, under pressure from international bodies, Bahrain implemented its telecommunications law which included the establishment of an independentTelecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).[1] In 2003, Batelco's monopoly over the sector ended when the TRA awarded a licence toMTC Vodafone, which later re-branded itself asZain.[1] In January 2010, Viva Bahrain, which later re-branded into STC Bahrain (a subsidiary ofSTC) started operations in Bahrain.
In 2006, there were 194,200 telephonesmain lines in Bahrain.
In 2007, there were 1,116,000mobile cellular contracts in Bahrain.
Telephone system:
Radio broadcast stations: AM 2, FM 3, shortwave 0 (1998)
Television broadcast stations: 4 (1997)
Internet hosts: 2,621 (2008)
Internet users: 250,000 (2007)
This article incorporatespublic domain material fromThe World Factbook (2025 ed.).CIA. (Archived 2009 edition.)
