Seef District, Kingdom of Bahrain – Wednesday, April 12, 2017

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) issued statistics on  telecommunications equipment imported from February 2016 to February 2017. The total number of imported units reached about 1.8 million units imported into the Kingdom after satisfying  the minimum set of technical and safety requirements of TRA’s regulatory process.

TRA’s recent electronic approval system, adopted in early 2016, has made processing telecoms equipment imports more efficient with overall requests taking less than 2 days on average, compared to just over 4 days when the process was done manually, a difference of more than 50%.

Data showed that the volume of importing terminal equipment (cell phones, smartphones, fax machines, printers, scanners, tablets) reached 1,173,985 units (65%). Passive Equipment (wires, fiber optics) reached 215,797 units (12%).

The statistics also indicated the importation of 128,773 units (7%) of network equipment (base stations, switches, base station controllers). The number of phone spare parts imported amounted to 286,155 units (16%).

“TRA’s regulatory process on importing telecommunications equipment into the Kingdom of Bahrain is aimed at controlling the importation of telecommunications equipment into the Kingdom through the necessity of acquiring a prior approval on importing telecommunications equipment from TRA and the concerned entities. This will lead to ensuring safer public network in the Kingdom, as some equipment may not meet emission safety standards, and may not be compatible with Bahrain’s telecoms networks.” Says TRA’s Technical & Operations Director, Mr. Mohammed Alnoaimi.

The below graph presents the amounts and rates of telecommunications equipment imported from February 2016 to February 2017:

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About TRA
Since its establishment in 2002, the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the Kingdom of Bahrain has been working with government, consumers, operators and investors to develop the country into the region’s most modern communications hub and to facilitate the growth of the market. As an exemplary Regulator for the region, TRA Bahrain independently carries out its duties in a transparent and non-discriminatory manner. More information about TRA can be viewed at www.tra.org.bh.

For Press inquiries and information please contact: 
Media and Public Relations Department
tramedia@tra.org.bh

© Press Release 2017