Bahrain-based telecommunications firm 2Connect is to offer free Internet access to residential customers as it starts the roll-out of a wireless service it hopes will soon cover the entire country.
The company has already launched the service in Riffa, with A’Ali and Juffair to follow within days, says managing director Fahad Al Shirawi.
“We are going to deliver free Internet access to everyone in Bahrain - to anybody that wants it. We will obviously start area by area and we will take it form there and cover the whole country,” he said.
Mr Al Shirawi said 2Connect was offering a 256kbps speed with a 2GB threshold for free, in the hope that some customers who want a better service will later pay the firm to upgrade to another package.
“Obviously I am not going to give unlimited Internet access free of charge - what I am going to do is offer Batelco’s BD10 package free of charge. A BD120 a year saving for a family that can’t afford it is a lot of money,” he said.
Mr Al Shirawi said the only “minor catch” for a customer would be that they would have to buy their own modem, but after that there is no further cost and users simply log-in each day using details provided by the firm.
He also stressed that the service would not be like other free Internet services that depend on frequent ‘pop-up’ advertisements for revenue - with just a single advertisement for 2Connect when a customer logs in and then uninterrupted browsing.
“It is not going to be one of those annoying multi pop-up advertisements, none of that is going to be there,” said Mr Al Shirawi.
How quickly the service advances from its initial launch districts to cover the whole of the country will depend on demand, he added.
“The quicker people sign up, the quicker we will expand the network,” said Mr Al Shirawi.
He admitted the firm stood to make a loss on the project and revealed it would be exclusive to Bahrain and not be repeated in other regional markets in which the firm is active.
“This is a gift to Bahrain - we will offer attractive Internet connectivity to other parts of the region but at the end of the day we are not a charity, we are a business. We want to make money so we can’t really give it free to everybody,” he said.
Mr Al Shirawi also called for other telecom companies in Bahrain to follow 2Connect’s lead and offer free Internet to residential customers.
“I would like to see all my competitors do the same and give free Internet to the users,” he said.
“At the end of the day competition should make money from other avenues of business - from the person’s phone-line, from other value-added services that they use such as IPTV and the like. There are so many channels out there that are still not even broadcast here.
“There are so many ways to make money, there is no need to charge for everything.”
GDN - 12 June, ‘07
June 13th, 2007 at 11:50 pm
it’s a great news, but the questions is does TRA accept this package for ever?
the other question is how much does its modems cost?
June 15th, 2007 at 9:06 am
I’m a bit skeptical with ‘free wireless internet 256K’ using WiFi.. and who in the hell can gamble on the fact that you introduce a free package and ‘hope’ as an operator that users upgrade to higher packages to get some many back? WiFi strategies like this in the US simply failed (i.e. cities like Philadelphia and in California simply did not work!)
cant wait for true broadband services to the home! something I’m willing to pay $$$ if the services are good!
June 16th, 2007 at 2:11 am
I have a contact within 2connect and here is the details of what 2connect is actually providing. This is not a ‘wifi’ internet as most people presume it to be.
It is only wireless as in the sense of internet through a ‘Satellite Dish’. 2connect has announced that it has started its service only in Riffa so far, but the irony of the situation is that there is NO retailer in Bahrain as of yet who provide this ‘Dish’ that is needed to use 2Connect’s services.
Every business has its way of marketing schemes, 2connect in a way tried to pull a fast one, the irony of the situation is NO ONE as of yet can use their services.
The satellite dish would be just your average dish you will have to install on your roof, which will be connected to your modem through a cable. I repeat, this is not WIFI. This dish is expected to cost from BD 70-100(as I have heard).
I also would like to clear somethings about this wireless internet service. Since as this also concerned my hobby, which would be Online Gaming. Eg. World of WarCraft. Online gaming needs lower ping as gamers are aware of that. With this satellite internet, where gaming with cable(batelco) we get ping avg 250, we will get 1000ms with satellite internet. Thus 2connect internet is useless, utterly useless for gamers. I would recommend to stick with Batelco if you are a Gamer like me!. If your not interested in Gaming, 2connect just might be good for you.
Note: I know someone from Batelco will read this, DAMMIT INCREASE OUR BANDWIDTH! we need more for out gaming
. The world is evolving! Gamers are ever on the rise, give us a break >.
June 16th, 2007 at 6:36 am
Satellite?!? Why do we have to resort to Satellite Internet services?? Why do I have to go back in time and use PRIMITIVE technology??? I’m gamer like you and the lower the ping the better! same goes with VoIP and Video calling..
I hope this is not what the TRA calls ‘competition’ and surely hope better ‘wired’ providers come in soon!
June 16th, 2007 at 6:57 am
hi there guys…
regarding 2connect .. i don’t expect much as i was in contact with one of the guys there and they gave me … all dreams come true - solution .. and when it came to realizing their speech it appeared as … dreams… anyways… and they never contacted me again …
Batelco’s crappy internet is the only available thing now (damn them to hell) … but the damn threshold is killing me ..and i guess is killing al of us.. if we can unite our forces and find a way .. to go around the limit system .. life is gonna be cOOl again …
anyways .. we can also .. make a lobby group .. demonstrate - peacefully - write to them .. to tra … and write a petition .. to any one up the chain of command …
[peace]
June 17th, 2007 at 11:26 am
zodiac, trust me, it wouldn’t work, look at Boycott Batelco campaign, it didn’t change anything not even with the TRA. So I guess its the time to just wait a couple of months until we see proper companies competing with each other.
June 17th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
Duh, Bahrain’s government is what is called my the international folks as a POLICE government. Have you ever noticed how batelco has GUIDELINES and trying to teach us how to use the internet as if we are too stupid to do anything.
November 5th, 2008 at 3:38 am
It’s a stupid Island where we all live in, providing ULTRA LOW standard services with stupid peoples!!! better to get out from this Island.
… haha 
I aint gonna be here long enuf to remember the name “Bahrain”