Bahrain’s telecoms regulator has awarded LTE spectrum to the country’s three incumbent mobile operators, after losing an appeal earlier this year.
Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA) has allocated radio frequencies to Batelco, Viva and Zain.
TRA stopped a spectrum auction earlier in 2013 after an appeal by Menatelecom, a local WiMAX operator, which objected to the proposal for the auction to be restricted to the three incumbents.
TRA said it had run a “revitalised” frequency award process in recent months in which eligible licensees were invited to respond to a consultation document which set out the regulator’s latest proposals.
The regulator proposed that the kingdom’s existing operators use frequencies in the 900MHz, 1800MHz and 2100MHz bands to promote current technologies and the provision of LTE services.
The current announcement also notes that Menatelecom has announced its intention to roll out a national LTE-based fixed wireless service using its current radio frequencies.
To help the operator, TRA said it has provided the code for network management, authentication and other personalised services, so enabling Menatelecom to be spectrum efficient in how it offers LTE.