Information communication technology
Bahrain is the obvious choice for ICT businesses wishing to locate in the Gulf region because of low office lease rates, excellent broadband and telecoms connections and lower labour costs than our neighbours.
Industry leader Microsoft chose to base its regional operations in Bahrain for just these sorts of reasons. Bahrain also led the introduction of mobile communications in the region, and in 2004 became the first Gulf state to have a fully-liberalised telecoms market.
Growth in demandA growing demand for ICT products and services is a natural consequence of strong growth in other sectors. Financial services, construction, retail, manufacturing and the energy industry all need more and more ICT support, products and systems integration.
Total IT spending in the Gulf will exceed $9 billion during 2008, a rise of 15% over the previous year. This presents notable opportunities for ICT products, systems integration and technical support.
Firms already present in BahrainICT software companies in Bahrain include Software AG of Germany and three of India’s largest IT companies, Satyam, Zain (Vodafone), TCS and WIPRO. Hewlett-Packard has also signalled its intention of making Bahrain a regional centre by acquiring a major Bahrain IT business, NCS.
Investment in infrastructureSignificant investment has already been undertaken to provide a highly-developed technology infrastructure. Bahrain is linked to the rest of the region by the Fibre Optic Gulf cable and the high-tech FLAG Falcon cable system.
The telecommunications infrastructure was fully digitised in 1999, and today it is one of the most advanced in the GCC. Bahrain’s Batelco is now migrating all its services to the next generation network (NGN). When migration is complete, Bahrain will have state-of-the-art integrated services on a par with the best in the world.