Data usage jumps in Bahrain :TRA
Manama : Bahrain’s data consumption is soaring with broadband customers consuming more than 290 million gigabytes of data during 2016, according to the latest Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) report.
The report, the 12th consecutive edition of Annual Market Indicator covering 2016 and up to first half of 2017, shows that data consumption increased by 53 per cent to over 296.5 million gigabytes during the period.
“This data-driven shift is the most noticeable change that continues in occurrence during 2017,” the report said adding that at the end of first half of 2017, nearly 71pc of mobile subscriptions have data subscriptions, up from 64pc in 2016 and 57pc in 2015.
“This report provides a comprehensive overview of the evolving telecommunication environment in Bahrain, with a particular emphasis this year on the continued growth of internet subscriptions and data consumption,” said Shaikh Nasser bin Mohamed Al Khalifa, Acting General Director of TRA in the report.
Uptake of faster data networks, the report said, has gone hand-in-hand with increasing use of data services. Average monthly data use per fixed wired broadband connection increased by 30pc to 70.2GB in Q4 2016 comparing Q4 2015, and average monthly data use per mobile broadband connection increased by 37pc to 7.8GB over the same period.
The fixed wired broadband subscriptions continued to rise due to increase demand on fibre connections.
The report further shows that 48pc of all fixed broadband connections were able to receive access speeds of 10Mbit/s or more in 2016, up from 36pc a year previously. Conversely, packages with slower speeds have been declining in popularity.
In general, mobile and fixed line telephony revenues are holding up well, despite increasing use of ‘over-the-top’ internet services such as those provided by WhatsApp, Instagram and Snapchat, the report said.
Markets Saturate
However, the report shows a decline in the number of mobile and fixed telephony services by 11pc and 4pc consecutively, between end of 2016 and first half of 2017. Broadband subscriptions declined by 0.2pc over the same period.
“That drop came after a huge jump of subscribers during 2016 due to zero rated packages introduced by telecom operators, which is the practice not charging end customers for data used by specific applications or internet services,” the report said.
Explaining further, the report states that the market has become saturated and the growth rates have fallen to their lowest level during 2017. The penetration rate, as per the report, is 184pc with 2.67 million mobile connections and population of 1.45m.
This, according to the report, has resulted in increased competition between service providers to attract ported subscribers by offering better customer service, network coverage, and service quality.
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