Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/s7qg36/bahrain) has announced the addition of the "Bahrain: Converged Services Presents the Most Attractive Opportunity for Telecom Operators" report to their offering.
In 2014, the Bahraini telecom industry will generate an estimated US$848m in service revenue, a 2.8% increase over the previous year. The data segment (mobile and fixed) is the most important growth driver; we expect it to generate $51m more revenue in 2014 than in 2013. The data segment will grow at a CAGR of 8.5% between 2014 and 2019 to reach $656m in 2019, up from $436m in 2014. This reflects the industry's commitment to providing better connectivity by rolling out more LTE stations and improving fixed-line connectivity.
Operators are investing in LTE networks in the hope of increasing their market share. Adoption of 3G technologies in 2013 is at 63% of the mobile subscription base; we project that this will decline to 58% in 2019. This will be due to the increased availability of LTE services. The concentration of population in the major urban area of Manama and the small size of the country mean that LTE coverage in Bahrain is more extensive than in most GCC markets, edging close to 100% of the population for all three operators. LTE subscriptions are expected to reach 1.2m by 2019 or 37% of total mobile subscriptions in Bahrain, the competitive landscape will be dominated by operators' attempts to capture as much of these as possible. This is likely to lead to falling margins as operators drop their prices and the cost advantages of implementing LTE take time to reach the bottom line.
Over the next five years, the mobile data segment will present the most attractive opportunity for operators; we expect it to generate a cumulative $2.2bn in revenue during 2015-2019. Fixed data, on the other hand, will generate $641m over the same time period. To take full advantage of this growth, Bahraini operators are looking to develop their converged offers and are competing fiercely on bundling stronger networks. We expect that customized features of converged offers, and the bundling of traditional voice and data services with new multimedia and IT services, will make them more competitive. Batelco, in particular, is in a good position to cater to the increasing demand for convergence, since it is active in all segments of the telecom sector.
Key Topics Covered:
1. Executive summary
2. Market and competitor overview
- Regional context
- Economic, demographic and political context
- Regulatory environment
- Demand profile
- Service evolution
- Competitive landscape
- Major market players
3. Segment analysis
- Mobile services
- Fixed services
4. Identifying opportunities
- Overall market opportunities
For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/s7qg36/bahrain
