Batelco, leading telecom services provider in Bahrain, was named the Telecoms Company of the Year across the Middle East Region at the annual Arabian Business Achievements Awards 2009 ceremony held in Dubai.

Each year, the awards, judged by eminent regional business and telecom executives, celebrate the very best in business performance, both on a corporate and individual level.

"We are obviously delighted and humbled by such an award especially in the company of many telecom giants who were also nominated," Batelco chairman Shaikh Hamad bin Abdulla Al Khalifa said.

"Batelco's reputation and position in the telecommunications industry has reached a new high across the Middle East and we have made Bahrain proud by being awarded such a public recognition in 2009," he said.

"Our strategy and efforts over the last four years have transformed Batelco into a leading regional company of reference, delivering innovation, value and better customer care to all our customers.

"Our executives and all employees, through attention to operational excellence, have delivered the best performance in Batelco's history to date, in terms of financial results, products innovation and customer service levels," said Batelco Group chief executive officer Peter Kaliaropoulos,.

"We are judged every day by our customers and we set ourselves high standards to achieve so we can be rewarded with our customers' ongoing loyalty.

"In 2009 we have continued to grow our customer base right across all our operations, increasing associated revenues and margins. We are on track to end 2009 with over five million mobile customers and over 150,000 broadband customers," he added.

"The award reflects the collective efforts of all our people, across all operations and their dedication to our customers and our company." – TradeArabia News Service