Batelco’s wholesale charges brought down

Bahrain’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) has issued an order to the country’s dominant telecoms operator Batelco, setting new wholesale regulated access and interconnection rates for 2012. Under the order the telco’s bitstream and wholesale DSL charges are decreasing by between 2% and 26% compared to current prices; interconnection links charges are being cut by between 30% and 50%; interconnection services charges remain unchanged; duct access rates are similarly unaltered (although the TRA has introduced a maximum price that Batelco can charge to alternative operators for the field study stage required prior to cabling); domestic leased line wholesale costs are dropping by up to 46%; fees for international leased half circuits to Gulf countries are falling by between 28% and 68%, and for Southeast/East Asia, Europe and the USA, the wholesale tariffs have been cut by between 41% and 45%.