The Kingdom of Bahrain has three mobile network operators; Batelco, Saudi Telecom Company-owned Viva and Zain. Despite its small landmass Bahrain has 1,500 sites of which around 20% are shared.
Tower deployments in Bahrain have been strictly controlled by the Telecoms Regulatory Authority (TRA), who’s Public Radio Communications Stations Regulation (PRS Regulation) introduced in 2018 set out a goal of increasing the percentage of site sharing from 12% to 40% by 2033.
Bahrain- telecom market statistics Q3 2024
After closing the acquisition of Zain’s towers in Iraq, Bahrain was next on the list for TASC Towers to close as part of their regional sale leaseback with the operator. Originally due to close in H1 of 2023, the Ooredoo acquisition announcement has no doubt slowed down progress, although the handover is still expected to happen this year. TASCs entrance will mark the first independent towerco activity in the country, and closely aligns with the TRAs long-term goal of consolidating the MNO’s three tower networks.
Bahrain is a leading global ICT hub, ranking 4th globally in the Telecommunication Infrastructure Index and achieving the first position in the Arab world on the ICT Development Index. This is thanks to several government initiatives to drive ICT development, most notably Economic Vision 2030.
The Kingdom has built a substantial national 5G network with Batelco, Zain and stc all having launched commercial 5G and invested heavily in wireless and fibre infrastructure.
This has helped the Kingdom build a strong digital sector supporting technology-driven businesses and seen 5G use-cases such as Bahrain airport’s advanced IoT private network.
While Bahrain has a reliable energy grid, concerns over sustainability and increasing power consumption of 5G is driving MNOs to explore renewable and energy efficiency solutions. Zain has partnered with Rental Solutions & Servies becoming Bahrain’s first MNO to deploy on-site hybrid solar and battery solutions to reduce its carbon footprint.
As the network expands to new areas outside the national grid and increases energy demands from 5G, Zain plans to install more on-site renewable solutions to its towers in line with their environmental sustainability strategy. It is likely that TASC Towers, who is providing energy-as-a-service after taking over Zain’s tower and power infrastructure in Iraq, will also take over power provision in Bahrain as well.
