2.34 million broadband subscribers in Bahrain

Broadband subscriptions in Bahrain recorded a 9 per cent increase to 2.34 million between the second quarter of 2019 and 2018, said a Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) report. TRA’s second-quarter Market Indicators Report for 2019 released yesterday puts the Kingdom’s broadband penetration rate a 156 per cent compared to 143pc in the same period a year ago. Data consumption meanwhile increased 18pc from the prior-year period.

Mobile broadband subscription recorded an overall increase of 9pc, at the same time standalone broadband subscription increased 16pc. In fixed wired broadband, average monthly data consumption reached 192 GB per subscription while fixed wireless broadband reached 117 GB per subscription. Fixed wired broadband subscription increased by 14pc while fixed wireless increased by 3pc. Mobile standalone usage per subscription remained stable at 19 GB.

Mobile services

Mobile subscriptions, TRA said, is stabilising at 2.08 million subscribers at the end of the second quarter of 2019 with a penetration rate of 139pc after seeing a downward trend since the beginning of 2017 due to the change in consumer behaviour in terms of usage and mobile operators’ change of some components of available packages. Postpaid subscribers increased from 639,209 at the end of 2018 to 651,049 at the end of Q2, 2019, a 1.9pc increase.

On the other hand, mobile prepaid subscriptions declined from 1,453,505 at the end of 2018 to 1,435,790 at the end of Q2 2019, a 1.2pc decline. Overall, total subscriptions increased slightly since the beginning of 2019 and penetration rates are stable over the period. The number of accepted ported mobile lines increased to 3,182 from 2,518 in Q1 2019 Concerning outgoing voice calls, mobile voice traffic continues its decline.

Traffic declined by 14pc compared to the second quarter of 2018. Domestic mobile prepaid outgoing minutes declined by 20pc while domestic mobile postpaid minutes dropped by 5pc. Overall, total domestic minutes declined by 13.14pc. For mobile international outgoing minutes, prepaid minutes declined by 16pc while postpaid minutes declined by 18.6pc. Overall, mobile International outgoing minutes declined by 16.1pc.

Fixed telephony services

Fixed Telephony Line subscriptions increased slightly compared to the end of the last year, while the fixed wireless telephony services dropped by 9.26pc, however, the fixed wired telephony increased by 1.92pc. Fixed domestic calls remain stable between Q1 2018 and Q2 2019, while international fixedline calls dropped by 25.67pc between Q3 2018 and Q2 2019. Average monthly outgoing domestic minutes per subscriber is stable at 132 while average monthly international minutes reached to 6 minutes per subscriber.