Bahrain's Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has received a total of seven responses to its request for expressions of interest in the award process of the licence for the third mobile network operator (MNO). Six companies expressed their interest to compete for the right to become a third MNO.

The responses received cover different aspects of the award process of the third mobile license, such as preferred spectrum band(s), amount of spectrum required, and any additional measures, such as infrastructure sharing, national roaming, any exclusivity period required and the preferred license award mechanism, which are considered to be essential for the entry of a third MNO.

TRA intends to appoint a consultancy company to assist in the design of the award process of the third mobile license. TRA's General Director, Mr. Alan Horne, said: "Looking at the responses received we are greatly encouraged by the level of international interest that has been shown in the Bahraini telecommunications market. The responses are from a mixture of companies interested in investing in the future of Bahrain including both local companies with international partners, and international companies new to the telecoms sector of Bahrain."

TRA's Market & Competition Director and project manager of the award process, Mr. Robert Middlehurst, said: "We would like to thank all local and international operators for expressing their interest and for their valuable input that will help us formulate an efficient and transparent process for the award of the third mobile license”.

According to the TRA, the number of mobile subscribers in the kingdom has increased steadily since 2005. At the end of June 2007 there were 899,931 mobile subscribers in Bahrain. This includes both active prepaid and postpaid mobile subscribers.

The Bahraini mobile market in Bahrain is predominantly prepaid. Prepaid subscribers represented over 80% of the mobile subscribers’ based as at the end of Q2 2007.

© 2008 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)