Batelco, Bahrain’s leading telecommunications service provider and Cisco, the worldwide leader in networking for Internet, have joined forces to bring international standards in voice, mobile, data and broadband capabilities to the kingdom of Bahrain's telecom infrastructure.
The agreement translates into joint efforts to bring improved service, cost and operational efficiency and rapid adoption of new technologies for Batelco’s corporate, small-to-medium sized businesses (SMBs) and individual consumers.
“Our collaboration with Cisco is part of Batelco’s commitment to providing world-class service and technological capacity throughout its network,” said Peter Kaliaropoulos, Chief Executive of Batelco. “By joining forces and aligning our market knowledge with Cisco’s global expertise, we can ensure the rollout of cutting-edge services and solutions tailor-made to our market.”
Batelco and Cisco will work in cooperation in four major areas: wireline and mobile infrastructure, managed services development and building broadband services that augments the government’s vision of “Broadband Bahrain”, whilst addressing the demands of rapidly growing real-estate sector in the kingdom.
“Cisco will be working closely with Batelco on several service areas critical for the development of any new world telecom infrastructure,” said Samer Alkharrat, General Manager, Cisco Gulf. “The concept of managed services, for example, is prevalent in Europe and the United States, and is picking up pace in this region. Batelco will be one of the service providers in the region that is planning to embrace Managed Services.”
Managed Services from Batelco will provide customers with a suite of communication solutions. These solutions include managed data, security, voice, video and services. The ability for Batelco to provision, manage and upgrade these services removes much of the burden associated with the enterprise’s IT operational expense and overhead, thus allowing enterprises to optimize cost and focus on their core business.
“One of the key areas which today’s agreement highlights is the level of expertise that Cisco can extend to Batelco within the Mobility space,” added Nadim Khoury, Regional Manager for Service Provider in Cisco.
“With Cisco’s cutting edge solutions, we are planning to look at various options to how Batelco can maximise the potential of its mobile service delivery through the creation of value added services for mobile customers. Combining this with managed and broadband services being created will position Batelco as one of the permanent service providers in the region.”
“Offering advanced IP-based technology solutions, will enable Batelco to not only create new revenue channels, but also provide value added services that allow customers to streamline their operational efficiency, cut cost and enhance productivity,” added Khoury
Batelco’s shares are listed on the Bahrain Stock Exchange. It has a total capitalization of approx US$ 3.2 billion.
© 2006 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
