Editing Telecommunications in Bahrain

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'''Telecommunications in [[Bahrain]]''' are provided by the Bahrain Telecommunications Company, trading as [[Batelco]], as well as other companies such as [[Zain Group|Zain]] and [[stc Group|STC.]]<ref name=RE/> 


Prior to 1981 telecommunications services were provided by two separate departments: national services were provided by the Bahrain Telephone Company and international services by [[Cable & Wireless plc|Cable & Wireless]] of the [[United Kingdom]]. These were combined in 1981 to form Batelco. Since then, other telecommunications companies have entered the market.<ref name=RE/>

==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.

==Telephonic services==
In 2006, there were 194,200 telephones [[landline|main lines]] in Bahrain.
:''county comparison to the world:'' 124

In 2007, there were 1,116,000 [[mobile phone|mobile cellular]] contracts in Bahrain.
:''county comparison to the world:'' 132

'''Telephone system:'''
*''general assessment:'' modern system
*''domestic:'' modern [[fiber-optic]] integrated services; digital network with rapidly growing use of mobile cellular telephones
* ''international:'' country code - 973; landing point for the Fire-Optic Link Around the Globe (FLAG) [[submarine communications cable|submarine cable]] network that provides links to Asia, Middle East, Europe, and US; tropospheric scatter to Qatar and UAE; microwave radio relay to Saudi Arabia; satellite earth station - 1 (2007)

==Broadcast radio==
'''Radio broadcast stations:''' AM 2, FM 3, shortwave 0 (1998)

==Broadcast television==
'''[[Television]] broadcast stations:''' 4 (1997)

==Internet service==
{{main|Internet in Bahrain}}
'''[[Internet country code]]:''' .bh

'''Internet hosts:''' 2,621 (2008)
:''country comparison to the world:'' 135

'''Internet users:''' 250,000 (2007)
:''country comparison to the world:'' 124

==See also==
* [[Bahrain]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{CIA World Factbook|year=2009}}

{{Bahrain topics}}
{{Asia topic|Telecommunications in}}
{{Telecommunications}}

[[Category:Telecommunications in Bahrain| ]]