Manama: Mobile broadband services in Bahrain have become cheaper by up to 55 per cent and fixed services by up to 85pc between 2010 and 2015, shows a new study by the regulator.

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA)’s latest retail price benchmark study of telecommunications services in Arab countries found that fixed and mobile broadband prices in the kingdom are lower than the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development average.

Prices of telecommunications services in Bahrain continue to compare well with other GCC and Arab countries and also improved during the past year.

The study also shows customers in Bahrain have benefited from a wide range of retail telecom services and more data at lower prices.

The price of residential ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) broadband with speeds up to 10 Mbps reduced from BD80 in 2010 to BD20 in 2015, and the data allowance increased from 50GB to 150GB.

Furthermore, the study shows that residential customers in Bahrain are starting to get the benefits of ultra-fast broadband (with download speeds above 100Mbps).

The study was commissioned by TRA on behalf of the Arab Regulators Group, and it was undertaken by Strategy Analytics, an independent consulting firm that specialises in tariff comparisons.

“The results of the study provide further evidence that competition in the telecommunications markets in Bahrain, which we actively promote as the telecommunications regulator, continues to deliver significant benefits to consumers,” TRA director of market and competition Mohamed Al Binali said.

“It is encouraging to see the fruits of this work emerging in the form of improved consumer broadband offerings, as well as in the form of increased consumer welfare,” he added.

The latest findings are supported by an earlier report published by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) titled Measuring the Information Society.

That report found that Bahrain made the most progress in the ITU’s ICT Development Index value between 2010 and 2015 among the 167 economies covered.

The ITU also found that the fixed broadband services have become very affordable in Bahrain, where the fixed-broadband basket represents less than 2pc of gross national income per capita which is much less than the affordability target set by the internationally recognised broadband commission of 5pc of average monthly income per capita.