Editing Telecommunications in Bahrain (section)

==History==
When Batelco was founded in 1981, Bahrain had 45,627 [[telephone lines]] in use. By 1982, the number reached 50,000. In 1985, the country's first [[fibre optic]] cable was installed. Batelco was a [[monopoly]] in the telecommunications sector until 2003. By 1999, the company had around 100,000 mobile contracts.<ref name=RE>{{cite book|title=Report: Bahrain 2008|year=2008|pages=153|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHmo2jjjb2AC&q=history+Bahrain&pg=PA153}}</ref>

In 2002, under pressure from international bodies, Bahrain implemented its telecommunications law which included the establishment of an independent [[Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain|Telecommunications Regulatory Authority]] (TRA).<ref name=RE/> In 2003, Batelco's monopoly over the sector ended when the TRA awarded a licence to [[MTC Vodafone]], which later re-branded itself as [[Zain Group|Zain]].<ref name=RE/> In January 2010, Viva Bahrain, which later re-branded into STC Bahrain (a subsidiary of [[Saudi Telecom Company|STC]]) started operations in Bahrain.