Lightspeed Communications saw revenues increase by 800 per cent. Its customer base rose 10 times in the second half of its first year of operations as it celebrated its first anniversary on Monday.

'It is certainly a proud moment for us,' said Lightspeed Communications Bahrain chairman and Jordan Telecom Group chief executive officer Mickael Ghossein.

'We have successfully made our mark in the highly competitive telecom sector within a short period. It gives us more confidence in proceeding with our plans to introduce more products and services in Bahrain.'

Lightspeed Communications has received four licences from the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (TRA), said a report in the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Lightspeed offers services such as leased line, data hosting and network solutions to corporate customers, as well as Double Play packages (ADSL and VOIP) to offices and residential customers.

The LiveBox, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) modem that enables Double Play packages and combines state-of-the-art technology and innovation, has proved very popular in the market.

As a major alternative ADSL service provider other than Batelco, Lightspeed Communications offers competitive broadband services to its customers.

'We introduce services based on our market insight,' said Lightspeed Communications chief executive officer Shaikh Abdulla bin Khalid Al Khalifa.

'Our research has shown that there's huge potential for growth with the right kind of products and services.

'We are committed to meet the demand in the market, and with proper support from the government and the TRA, we will be able to serve more customers with innovative services.

'We are in the final stage of launching LiveRadio, which will be the first fully wireless Internet radio service offering a wide selection of radio stations and podcasts from all over the world,' he added.

'Following the success of LiveBox for residential customers, we are going to introduce a Business LiveBox.

'It will offer our corporate customers the advantages of guaranteed continuity, security, quality of service, four voice ports and one DID number.

'A WiFi extender will also be introduced soon to help allow the customers to surf the web even when they are a long distance away from their LiveBox,' he added.

'Our partnership with Jordan Telecom Group, which is majority-owned by France Telecom Group, gives us the technological edge and expertise to offer world-class broadband, voice and Internet services.

'If the TRA and the incumbent operator in Bahrain can solve the issues affecting the telecom operators, we will be in a better position to introduce new services that cater to a large segment of the market,' he added.

The company has initiated steps to get IP transit facilities from Saudi Arabia and share the undersea optical fibre cable controlled by Flag International and Batelco.

Over the last one year, the company has doubled the size of its employees, giving due importance to the government's Bahrainisation requirements. - TradeArabia News Service