Bahrain's leading telecom group Batelco is committed to investment in the Kingdom and its support of the nationwide e-Government ICT strategy, said a top official.

Speaking at the international press gathering at the recent 'Cisco Networkers 2010' event, Batelco chief executive (Bahrain), Gert Rieder reiterated the company's commitment to the ICT industry in the Kingdom.

Batelco, Rieder said, was committed to its partnership with Cisco and launded the ICT provider’s 'invaluable contribution in supporting Batelco’s delivery of leading technology- based solutions for its customers.'

“Through its partnership with Cisco, Batelco aims to deliver highly specialised products and services and differentiate itself from other providers by offering customers a true converged ICT solution,” the official observed.

“We also consider our customers’ financial needs and have designed flexible and innovative financing models to assist them with their capital expenditure during the ongoing difficult market conditions,” he added.

The Batelco, Rieder said, was focused on the delivery of innovate solutions for the Bahrain government as it makes tremendous progress in providing an extensive range of e-services available for the benefit of all residents.

He pointed out that Batelco was involved in training young Bahrainis in the use of Cisco technologies. 'We are proud to have an authorised CCNA academy located at the company’s Knowledge Hub at Hamala Headquarters. Since the in-house Academy opened in 2007 two group of 14 students have graduated,' he noted.

A third group will complete their training in April and a 4th group is planned for later this year,” he added.

Furthermore, each of these groups includes some unemployed young Bahrainis selected by the Ministry of Labour and we provide the training for them as part of our CSR responsibility to help them integrate into the labour force in the Kingdom.”

Batelco was the Diamond Sponsor and Telecom Provider for the industry-accredited networking forum, which was held in the Middle East for the first time.-TradeArabia News Service