Telecommunications, broadband and internet industry

Although Bahrain is the smallest region in the Middle East by population and area, it is one of the most competitive regions in the telecommunication and Internet services sector. It has an excellent regulatory authority along with adequate documentation standards in the region. The major player in the market, Batelco shares the market of fixed telephone lines with fourteen different service providers (Research, 2011). The infrastructure is excellent, as Batelco has completed the roll out of the next generation networks in January 2009. The international call minutes are around 70 and the consumers use prepaid calling cards for making international calls. However, the rate has considerably fallen down due to the introduction of VoIP based calling cards. Likewise, they are of low cost and