ICT

Bahrain now has a solid telecoms market with customers benefitting from a diverse array of services and increasingly competitive rates. The 2014 World Bank “Broadband Networks in the Middle East and North Africa” report singled out Bahrain as having the only mature broadband market in the MENA region, as well as being one of only two countries in the region to have a fully open telecoms market. The ICT sector, meanwhile, now forms a major pillar of Bahrain’s economy, and also one of the core sectors Bahrain is focused on developing, both to attract direct foreign investment and to grow human resources to help propel Bahrain as a regional ICT centre. Recent years have seen a significant expansion in the ICT landscape, as well as a push towards cutting edge technologies. The country’s fourth National Telecommunications Plan, which was released in early 2016, is a further example of the government’s strategic goals and planning when it comes to the sector.