Submitted by Gatewayadmin on Wed, 08/26/2009 - 09:52
MANAMA: A project expected to increase Bahrain's access to the worldwide web and bring down Internet prices was announced yesterday by the country's telecom watchdog.
It involves laying an 18km transmission network of cables and ducts from Salmaniya to the King Fahad Causeway, allowing Bahraini company Gateway Gulf to tap into the Saudi cyber network.
Telecommunications Regula-tory Authority (TRA) general director Alan Horne revealed it was being done in conjunction with Zain Bahrain and the Saudi Telecommunications Company (STC) - the third mobile company to be awarded a mobile licence in Bahrain.
It means Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in Bahrain now have another option.
"We are tremendously excited with what has been announced as one of the TRA's highest priorities is to increase the international capacity on and off the island," Mr Horne told the GDN yesterday.
The project will cost $3 million.
"This not only supports Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030, but also provides competitive access and increases to a certain extent diversity of the Internet product in the Kingdom.
"This is one of the first major initiatives to be announced and it's also a milestone in the development of the market in that operators have worked together to share not only infrastructure, but investment as well."
Mr Horne described the deal as a landmark in Bahrain's communications that should have a significant impact on every web user.