Bahrain TRA Publishes its First Report on Broadband Communications Quality of Service
Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain - Monday 19 July 2010
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has released recently on its website (www.tra.org.bh) the first report on the quality of services of the broadband communications offered to end consumers in Bahrain.
Internet access has become increasingly important to Consumer and Business users. The Economic Vision 2030 and supporting National Economic Strategy 2009 - 2014 both identify explicitly the need for more readily available affordable broadband services and indentify specific actions that should be undertaken to ensure that the appropriate infrastructure is made available with the Kingdom of Bahrain over the coming few years.
TRA’s Director of Technical and Operations Affairs Mr. Mohammed Mahmood said “Whilst Internet Service Providers do provide the basic level of information required to allow customers to make decisions relating to price, download speed and download threshold, they do not make available information relating to the actual download and upload speeds achieved on average for each ISP. TRA considers that at minimum consumers should be able to make informed decisions with respect to understanding what is likely to be provided by each ISP.”
Mr. Mahmood also said “Through this report consumers will be able to have access to quantitative and qualitative data relating to the actual quality of service achieved by each of the Internet Service Providers in Bahrain.” The published report is the first report based on the data gathered from the Broadband Quality of Service monitoring platform last year. It is the intention of TRA to publish periodic reports based on this and subsequent data gathered from the Broadband Quality of Service monitoring platform. These reports will provide consumers with accurate independently gathered and verified data concerning the actual quality of service that each of the ISPs offer thereby ensuring that appropriate information is provided to consumers and that consumers decisions are informed by such independently verified facts.
It is worth mentioning that in April last year, the TRA launched a Request for Proposal seeking proposals from experienced companies to design and implement a test platform to monitor and measure the performance of the Kingdom’s ISPs. The contract was awarded to Epitiro Ltd in July 2009.
Epitiro implemented and tuned its monitoring platform in the Kingdom of Bahrain during quarter 4, 2009 and quarter 1, 2010. Epitiro started monitoring and measuring live broadband connection on April 1, 2010. In total nine (9) ISPs have been connected to the Epitiro system. The full Quality of Service report can be found on TRA website on www.tra.org.bh.
About TRA
Since its establishment in 2002 the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of the Kingdom of
Bahrain (TRA) has been working with government, consumers, operators and investors to
develop the Kingdom of Bahrain into the region’s most modern communications hub and to
facilitate the growth of the market. As an exemplary Regulator for the region, TRA
independently carries out its duties in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner. More
information about TRA can be viewed at www.tra.org.bh
Media Contact
Abdulelah Abdulla
Communications Manager
Tel: +973 17 520000
Mobile: +973 36368555
Fax: +973 17 532125
Email: aabdulla@tra.org.bh
About Epitiro Epitiro is the global leader in broadband benchmarking providing subscriber experience insight to ISPs, MNOs, Industry bodies and government regulators.
Clients such as BT Retail, Saudi Telecommunication Company (STC), Bahrain Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA), , BT Wholesale, Vodafone, Orange, Virgin Media, Ofcom, Telecom New Zealand, Telefonica O2, Tiscali, KPN, Q-Tel, Mobily, Wataniya and many others benefit from Epitiro's coverage of fixed and wireless broadband performance.
Founded in 2000, Epitiro has headquarters in Cardiff, Wales, UK.
Iain Wood
iwood@epitiro.com
Marketing Manager
+ 44 (0)2920 488226
www.epitiro.com
