Bahrain IT Geographics

 

OVERVIEW: In terms of the local distribution of Internet, the concentration of ISPs and Internet connections are established in the capital Manama. Manama is also considered as the central IT hub in the nation because the entire Banking industry of the county is largely located there and is predominantly supported by a fast developing IT base. A number of internet based companies are also relocating to Manama and making a sort of IT park structure because of the already excellent IT infrastructure there.

There is not a particular R&D park or an institute, but there are small scaled computer agencies and companies, primarily located in the central district of Manama. Since the size of the capital is not extensive, the small companies are very close to each other and could be integrated into a software IT park. Many people have also often referred to Manama, Bahrain’s capital as the next IT center of the Middle East, taking into consideration the number of people that are joining the online club and the vast extent of cyber cafes as well as individual connections being offered to users at very reasonable rates. A number of leading Web based companies are establishing their bases in Manama not only because the government offers a number of tax deductive benefits but also due to the fact that the IT sector in Bahrain has grown above the foundation and is curving towards the maturity stage.

 

 

 

The internet was introduced to the country in 1995, and within a very short span of time the internet population was the highest after the United Arab Emirates that has the internet penetration rate of 28 percent. As of today, Bahrain ranks 16th on the 2003 Index of Economic Freedom, which makes it the most economic free nation in the entire Middle East.

In the near future, the country is well prepared to spend a total amount of more than $200 million on the establishment of an advanced online government system by the year 2005 and also a connectivity rate dispersed throughout the entire country that is very fast. In a period of less than one year, some local companies are also working on the idea of the fast development of Broadband Internet connectivity service in the country that would as well play a key role in ensuring Bahrain to be the leading provider of fast and reliable Internet network in the entire region.

The next generation IT technology or ADSL is in the stages of implementation and would be in full usage by the year 2006, that would certainly result in higher Internet involvement and development.

The kingdom population and size is small to have a major reflection on IT market. Therefore, businesses would rather focus to have their electronic workings on the web in order for their customers to take advantage of electronic commerce products. Priorities for those businesses are to check availability of such products and maybe requesting information or ordering specific/customized product for the customers’ preferences. Moreover, there are many departmental stores and single shops that are moving to e-business and offering delivery of merchants. For example, the telecommunication company of Bahrain (Batelco) accepts e-payments by credit card from its customers. As well, another example utilizing e commerce benefits is a large commercial store called Alia, which recives orders and processes them online.
On the other hand, the shift in IT is mainly towards e-government and e-business (and banking sector).

Distribution by Top-Level Domain Name by Name Jul 2002 www.isc.org

Domain	Hosts	All Hosts	Dup Names	Level 2	Level 3
Total of all Domains	162128493	238125480	75996987	2734143	36545447
bh Bahrain	1251	1252	1	14	17