BATELCO yesterday announced the launch of its newly-approved BD10 per month Internet package. The package was previously blocked by a Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) emergency order, on June 15.
The package was blocked and customers refunded after the TRA said Batelco had “wrongfully” launched the package which had not obtained required approval.
Now it has finally been approved, after slight concessions to competitors, Batelco chief executive officer Peter Kaliaropoulos said via a live video link-up to Jordan, where he is currently on business.
Batelco was forced to provide a “slightly better” deal to competitors, before being given the go-ahead to launch the package, but that no changes had been made to the package for retail customers, he said.
The company blamed the delay in the package launch on a “cumbersome” process of regulation by the TRA, claiming that it had to get “forward approval and notification” from the authority for 98 per cent of its activities.
It also said it would be submitting a number of ‘initiatives’ proposing changes to Bahrain’s telecommunications law when it is up for review next year.
“Finally, after eight and a half months we have approval to offer to the people in Bahrain the most affordable Internet rates that the GCC has ever seen,” said Mr Kaliaropoulos.
“It is a great win for the consumer and I do believe it’s also a great win for the competition.
“We were forced - or we were asked - according to the regulation, which we never objected to, to also make this offer available to our competitors.
“We always claimed that this was unfair because this is a retail offer but again, at the end of the day, through many months of negotiations, our competitors today have from Batelco an offer which is better than what we’re giving to the retail consumers.
“So hopefully they will be able to offer similar products and packages in the marketplace.”
The move contributes towards making Bahrain a “very competitive telecommunications hub for many companies”, he said.
“We had to offer to our competitors an even better offer than what we offered back in January - let me say slightly better, not fundamentally better, and I’m talking a few fils,” Mr Kaliaropoulos said, but declined to provide actual figures for the deal.
“So the competitors got an additional small discount from us (on) the wholesale offer we had to give them, which then allowed the TRA to approve the retail offer.”
The company criticised the delay in launching the package, which it said was first proposed to the TRA on January 29.
“The reality is, despite the eight and a half months of debate, deliberations, the end outcome is exactly what we asked eight and a half months ago,” said Mr Kaliaropoulos.
“So I guess we’re equally concerned at how long this process takes - but having said that, we accept the current regulatory environment.”
Batelco will be submitting a number of ‘initiatives’ to change telecommunications law when it is reviewed next year, he added.
“We have to notify the authority and if we want to change anything, our prices, our terms, we have to go through a very cumbersome process - our competitors do not,” said Mr Kaliaropoulos.
“The telecommunications law, as I understand, is up for review next year and obviously we have now quite a few years of experience working with the current regulatory process and we will be submitting a number of initiatives to try and change that for the benefit of the industry, and for the benefit of the consumers.”
The BD10 package is for new Internet users, or those who cannot afford Batelco Internet packages priced at BD30, 40 and 60, he said.
“High users” packages with faster speeds and more download capacity are also in the works, said Mr Kaliaropoulos.
“We have gone back and revised the top end of our packages, we have made the submission to the regulator.
“The regulator informed us again a couple of weeks ago that the submission we made, which would give customers more downloads and also faster speeds when they reach various download levels, give them a lot better value for the same money.”
Batelco’s BD 5 Internet plan is currently being worked on and, and “unlimited Internet” for users with a high volume of downloads could be provided at a faster speed, said Mr Kaliaropoulos.
The BD 10 package does not require a separate telephone line and will not tie up the phone line it uses, and reportedly offers downloads at a rate which is 400 per cent faster than standard telephone line and modem connections.
The new service was approved by the TRA on August 23. Consumers can pre-register for the service from today for delivery from October 10 onwards.
The package offers speeds of up to 256kbits per second and a download limit of two gigabytes and is aimed at “most light to moderate users who don’t download large music and video music files”, said Mr Kaliaropoulos.
GDN :: 13 Sept, ‘06