Bahrain
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Bahrain
Opensignal is the independent global standard for analyzing consumers' connectivity experiences. Our industry reports are the definitive guide to understanding what happens when people use their mobile and broadband connections in their daily life.
Key Findings
The most consistent experience is once again with Zain
Zain wins the Consistent Quality award outright for a second consecutive report. Zain is three percentage points ahead of second-placed Batelco and four percentage points ahead of third-placed stc.
stc wins the Reliability Experience award for a second report in a row
stc keeps hold of the Reliability Experience award, winning outright with a score of 913 points on a 100-1000 point scale. Batelco's and Zain's statistically tie for second place with scores of 887-891 points. Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks.
Zain and Batelco defend their respective wins for Coverage Experience and 5G Coverage Experience
Zain keeps hold of the overall Coverage Experience award with a score of 9.1 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of less than one point over second-placed Batelco — stc is slightly lower, in third. Batelco remains the outright winner of the 5G Coverage Experience award, winning this time with a score of 7.4 points. stc and Zain place second and third, respectively.
Batelco can’t be beat for download speeds
Batelco wins Download Speed Experience outright and shares the glory for 5G Download Speed with stc. Average download speeds have increased for all three Bahraini national operators, both overall and on 5G networks. Batelco’s and stc’s increases in 5G Download Speed — 35Mbps and 32Mbps, respectively — mean that the pair both achieve scores of more than 300Mbps.
Zain wins Voice App Experience outright
Zain is the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award, its score of 82.9 points on a 100-point scale is slightly ahead of second-placed Batelco’s 82.4 points. Additionally, Zain and Batelco share the 5G Voice App Experience award, with statistically tied scores of 83-83.3 points. stc places third for both metrics, however, all three operators place in the Good (80-87) category for both Voice App Experience and 5G Voice App Experience.
Zain catches up with Batelco for Games Experience
Batelco and Zain now share the award for overall mobile gaming experience, Games Experience, statistically tying with scores of 82.9-83.7 points on a 100-point scale. Zain catches up with Batelco due to Zain’s score increasing by 12 points between reports, while Batelco’s score increased by six points. Additionally, Batelco keeps hold of its outright win for 5G Games Experience.
Mobile Experience Awards
Market Overview
As was the case in the previous report, Batelco is once again the most awarded operator in this Bahraini mobile network report. Batelco wins, either outright or jointly, nine out of 15 awards — Batelco’s tally of outright wins has dropped to five now that it shares Games Experience and 5G Video Experience with Zain and stc, respectively. Zain takes home six total award wins, while stc achieves four.
In this report we examine the mobile network experience of the three main mobile network operators in Bahrain — Batelco, stc and Zain — over a period of 90 days starting on January 1, 2025, and ending on March 31, 2025, to see how they fared.
Overall Experience
National Analysis
stc remains the outright winner of the Video Experience award, doing so this time with a score of 70.5 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around two points over second-placed Batelco's and Zain's statistically tied scores of 68.1-69 points.
stc's and Batelco’s scores have each increased by three points since the previous report, while Zain's score increased by two points.
All operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category, this means that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling.
Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Video Experience quantifies the quality of video streamed to mobile devices by measuring real-world video streams over an operator's networks. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate video experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the overall video experience for each operator on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
In addition to Video Experience, we report on the following metrics related to video experience:
- 5G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Video Experience – 5G Users: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G video experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Video Experience: The average Video Experience of Opensignal users on an operator’s 3G network.
National Analysis
Batelco now shares the Games Experience with Zain as the pair have statistically tied scores of 82.9-83.7 points on a 100-point scale — stc is in third.
All operators place in the Good (75-85) category. A Good rating means that most users deem the experience acceptable. The gameplay experience is generally controllable and the user receives immediate feedback between their actions and the outcomes in the game. Most users do not experience a delay between their actions and the game.
Definitions
Opensignal’s Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator’s network. Measured on a scale of 0-100, it analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience is affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter.
Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world.
Calculating Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games. The score is then measured on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Games Experience, we report on the following metrics related to games experience:
- 5G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Games Experience – 5G Users: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G games experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Games Experience: The average Games Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Zain is the outright winner of the Voice App Experience award, its score of 82.9 points on a 100-point scale is slightly ahead of second-placed Batelco’s 82.4 points. Stc is in third with 81.2 points.
All operators place in the Good (80-87) category for Voice App Experience. A Good rating means many users are satisfied. Minor quality impairments experienced by some users. Sometimes the background is not quite clear, it can be either hazy or not loud enough. Clicking sounds or distortion is very occasionally present.
Definitions
Opensignal's Voice App Experience measures the quality of experience for over-the-top (OTT) voice services — mobile voice apps such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — using a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
In addition to Voice App Experience, we report on the following metrics related to voice app experience:
- 5G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users when they were connected to an operator’s 5G network.
- Voice App Experience – 5G Users: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator's networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G voice app experience along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 4G network.
- 3G Voice App Experience: The average Voice App Experience of Opensignal users on an operator's 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO) network.
National Analysis
Batelco again wins the Download Speed Experience award outright, its score of 85.7Mbps gives it a lead of 9Mbps over second-placed stc. Zain comes third with a score of 57.7Mbps.
Average download speeds have increased across the board since the last report, with Bahraini operators’ scores rising by 11-15Mbps.
Definitions
Measured in Mbps, Download Speed Experience represents the typical everyday speeds a user experiences across an operator’s mobile data networks.
In addition to Download Speed Experience, we report on the following metrics related to download speeds:
- 5G Download Speed: The average download speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Download Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average download speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G download speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Download Speed: The average downlink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
National Analysis
Zain continues to win the Upload Speed Experience award outright. Zain wins this time with a score of 16.1Mbps and a lead of 2Mbps over second-placed Batelco. stc comes third with a score of 12.4Mbps.
Since the previous report, Batelco's and stc’s scores have increased by 3Mbps, while Zain's score has risen by 2Mbps.
Definitions
Upload Speed Experience measures the average upload speeds for each operator observed by our users across their mobile data networks. Typically upload speeds are slower than download speeds, as current mobile broadband technologies focus resources on providing the best possible download speed for users consuming content on their devices. As mobile internet trends move away from downloading content to creating content and supporting real-time communications services, upload speeds are becoming more vital and new technologies are emerging that boost upstream capacity.
In addition to Upload Speed Experience, we report on five supporting metrics related to upload speeds:
- 5G Upload Speed: The average upload speed observed by Opensignal users with active 5G connections.
- Upload Speed Experience – 5G Users: The average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription across an operator’s networks. It factors in 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G upload speeds along with the availability of each technology.
- 4G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 4G.
- 3G Upload Speed: The average uplink speed observed by Opensignal users when they were connected to 3G (e.g. UMTS/HSPA or CDMA 1X EV-DO).
5G Experience
National Analysis
stc joins Batelco on the winners’ podium for the 5G Video Experience award. The pair jointly win with statistically tied scores of 74.9-75.7 points on a 100-point scale and a lead of around two points over third-placed Zain's 73.4 points.
Scores have risen on all three operators, with the increases ranging from two to three points.
All operators place in the Very Good (68-78) category, meaning that our users are, on average, able to stream video at 1080p or better with satisfactory loading times and little stalling on all three networks.
5G Video Experience scores account for adaptive bitrate streaming (ABR), a technology that allows Opensignal to accurately represent users' real video experience including video streams up to 4K quality.
Definitions
5G Video Experience quantifies the quality of mobile video experienced by Opensignal users on real-world video streams when they were connected to 5G. The metric is based on an International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach, built upon detailed studies which have derived a relationship between technical parameters, including picture quality, video loading time and stall rate, with the perceived video experience as reported by real people. To calculate 5G Video Experience, we are directly measuring video streams from end-user devices and using this ITU approach to quantify the video experience observed by our users on each operator’s 5G network on a scale from 0 to 100. The videos tested include a mixture of resolutions — including Full HD (FHD) and 4K / Ultra HD (UHD) — and are streamed directly from the world’s largest video content providers.
National Analysis
Batelco remains the outright winner for 5G Games Experience. Batelco scores 87.5 points on a 100-point scale, giving it a lead of one point over second-placed Zain's 86.3 points. stc comes third with a score of 82.5 points.
Batelco and Zain place in the Excellent (85 or above) category, while stc places one category lower, in Good (75-85).
Definitions
5G Games Experience measures how mobile users experience real-time multiplayer mobile gaming on an operator's 5G network. It analyzes how our users’ multiplayer mobile gaming experience was affected by mobile network conditions including latency, packet loss and jitter. 5G Games Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
5G Games Experience quantifies the experience when playing real-time multiplayer mobile games on mobile devices connected to servers located around the world. The approach is built on several years of research quantifying the relationship between technical network parameters and the gaming experience as reported by real mobile users. These parameters include latency (round trip time), jitter (variability of latency) and packet loss (the proportion of data packets that never reach their destination). Additionally, it considers multiple genres of multiplayer mobile games to measure the average sensitivity to network conditions. The games tested include some of the most popular real-time multiplayer mobile games (such as Fortnite, Pro Evolution Soccer and Arena of Valor) played around the world. Calculating 5G Games Experience starts with measuring the end-to-end experience from users’ devices to internet end-points that host real games.
National Analysis
Batelco and Zain are joint winners of the 5G Voice App Experience award, sharing first place with statistically tied scores of 83-83.3 points on a 100-point scale. Stc scores around one point less than Batelco and Zain, placing in third.
All operators place in the Good (80-87) category for 5G Voice App Experience. A Good rating means many users are satisfied. Minor quality impairments experienced by some users. Sometimes the background is not quite clear, it can be either hazy or not loud enough. Clicking sounds or distortion is very occasionally present.
Definitions
5G Voice App Experience quantifies the experience of Opensignal users when using over-the-top voice apps — such as WhatsApp, Skype and Facebook Messenger — on an operator’s 5G network. It uses a model derived from the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) approach for quantifying overall voice call quality and a series of calibrated technical parameters. This model characterizes the exact relationship between the technical measurements and perceived call quality. 5G Voice App Experience for each operator is calculated on a scale from 0 to 100.
National Analysis
Batelco and stc continue to share the 5G Download Speed award, jointly winning with statistically similar scores of 308.2-318.7Mbps. While Zain’s average 5G download speeds are around 76Mbps slower than those of Batelco and stc, Zain is catching up to the lead pair due to its score increasing by 53Mbps between reports — Batelco’s and stc’s scores increased by 35Mbps and 32Mbps, respectively.
Definitions
5G Download Speed shows the average download speed experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Download Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
National Analysis
Batelco is once again the outright winner of the 5G Upload Speed award, this time with a score of 31.6Mbps and a lead of around 6Mbps over second-placed Zain's and stc's statistically tied scores of 25.6-26.3Mbps.
All three operators have seen a boost in 5G Upload Speed, Batelco's score has increased by 9Mbps, stc's score by 7Mbps and Zain's score by 6Mbps.
Definitions
5G Upload Speed measures the average upload speeds experienced by Opensignal users across an operator’s 5G network. 5G Upload Speed for each operator is calculated in Mbps (Megabits per second).
Coverage
National Analysis
Zain remains in the lead for Coverage Experience, doing so this time with a score of 9.1 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of less than one point over second-placed Batelco's 8.7 points. stc comes third with a score of 8.5 points.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
National Analysis
Batelco is once again first for the 5G Coverage Experience award, winning outright with a score of 7.4 points on a 10-point scale and a lead of less than one point over second-placed stc's seven points. Zain comes third with a score of 6.6 points.
Definitions
The Opensignal Coverage Experience metric measures the extent of mobile networks in the places people live, work and travel. The metric represents the experience users receive as they travel around areas where they would reasonably expect to find coverage.
Traditional coverage metrics typically estimate either a percentage of land area covered, or a percentage of population covered; often neither will be an accurate measurement of the true user expectation and experience. In many markets there are areas where neither population density nor geographic area reflect the importance of coverage to users. For example, in a large mountain range most users will not expect coverage in the wilderness, but poor coverage in the relatively small area of a ski resort is critical for the enjoyment of a holiday. Estimates based purely on population give undue significance to coverage in the most densely populated areas.
Coverage Experience measures geographic coverage of populated areas and therefore more accurately reflects the coverage expectations and experience of typical users. It can give a result that is somewhat different to traditional estimates based on either geographic or population measures. The metric uses a scale from 0 to 10.
5G Coverage Experience shows the proportion of places Opensignal users with a 5G device and a 5G subscription had an active 5G connection.
National Analysis
Batelco retains its outright win for Availability with a score of 99.3% and a lead of around one percentage point over second-placed Zain's and stc's statistically tied scores of 98.3-98.4%.
Definitions
Our availability metrics are not a measure of a network’s geographical extent. They won’t tell you whether you are likely to get a signal if you plan to visit a remote rural or nearly uninhabited region. Instead, they measure what proportion of time people have a network connection, in the places they most commonly frequent — something often missed by traditional coverage metrics. Looking at when users have a connection rather than where, provides us with a more precise reflection of the true user experience.
We also keep track of the instances that leave mobile users most frustrated: when there is no signal to connect to at all. The most common dead zones users struggle with occur indoors. As most of our availability data is collected indoors (as that’s where users spend most of their time), we’re particularly astute at detecting areas of zero signal.
Our availability metrics take a user-centric, time-based approach that complements the user-centric and geographical-based methodology used by our reach metrics.
Availability shows the proportion of time all Opensignal users on an operator’s network had either a 3G, 4G or 5G connection.
Consistency
National Analysis
Zain wins the Consistent Quality award outright for a second consecutive report. Zain scores 78.3%, three percentage points ahead of second-placed Batelco and four percentage points ahead of third-placed stc.
Since the previous report, our stc and Batelco users saw increases of four and three percentage points, respectively. Zain’s score decreased by one percentage point.
This metric measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical demanding tasks on their devices. It assesses a number of experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet loss, and time to first byte.
Definitions
Consistent Quality measures if the network is sufficient to support common mobile application requirements at a level that is ‘good enough’ for users to maintain (or complete) various typical tasks on their devices.
We combine different experience indicators such as download speed, upload speed, latency, jitter, packet discard, and time to first byte to calculate Consistent Quality. These components are evaluated against thresholds recommended by various more demanding common applications used for a range of common tasks.
To calculate the metric value, the proportion of tests that pass the requirements of Consistent Quality is multiplied by the test success ratio, which is the proportion of completed tests to all tests conducted. Tests that pass indicate that activities such as video calling, uploading an image to social media, or using smart home applications will be possible without noticeable lag or slowdown.
National Analysis
stc keeps hold of the Reliability Experience award, winning outright for a second time with a score of 913 points on a 100-1000 point scale and a lead of around 24 points over second-placed Batelco's and Zain's statistically tied scores of 887-891 points. However, stc’s lead is shrinking, as it saw the smallest increase in score between reports — 14 points, compared to Zain’s 15 points and Batelco’s 29 points.
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of our users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on operators’ networks. It consists of the following components:
% time connected — The proportion of time Opensignal users can successfully connect to a mobile network
Data Connectivity — the proportion of time when the network is available and the device can connect to the internet
Task completion — whether tasks initiated by the user’s device are completed
Sufficiency — The probability that (basic) tasks will be executed sufficiently well for the user
Definitions
Opensignal’s Reliability Experience measures the ability of Opensignal users to connect to and successfully complete (basic) tasks on communication service providers’ (CSP) networks. It analyzes how much Opensignal users’ experience is affected by the radio access and core network, along with issues that prevent them from connecting to the internet even if they have a connection to their CSP’s network. It also factors in users’ ability to successfully use lower performance applications including SD video, over-the-top voice calls and web browsing.
Related Analysis
Our Methodology
Collecting billions of individual measurements daily from over 100 million devices globally, Opensignal independently analyzes mobile and broadband user experience on every major network operator around the globe.
About Opensignal
Opensignal is the leading global provider of independent insights into consumers' connectivity experiences and choice of carrier. Our proprietary insights into mobile and broadband networks give operators the solutions they need to profitably compete and win, from executive level scorecards and public validation to pin-point level engineering analytics and consumer decision dynamics.
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Confidence Intervals
For every metric we calculate statistical confidence intervals indicated on our graphs. When confidence intervals overlap, our measured results are too close to declare a winner. In those cases, we show a statistical draw. For this reason, some metrics have multiple operator winners.
In our bar graphs we represent confidence intervals as boundaries on either sides of graph bars.
In our supporting-metric charts we show confidence intervals as +/- numerical values.
Why confidence intervals are vital in analyzing mobile network experience