The nationwide LTE network was deployed by Swedish vendor, Ericsson. Batelco launched the service on the 1.8 Ghz spectrum. It also plans to acquire spectrum on the 2.6 Ghz frequency for LTE, which will be released as part of an auction process in the coming weeks.

Speaking at the official launch during Mobile World Congress, Rashid Abdulla said: "For the last few months we have been working very closely with Ericsson to ensure that we deployed the LTE. Before that we did a good indoor trial which was very successful. Soon after the trial we went for a plan for a full deployment of LTE nationwide.

Anders Lindblad, head of Middle East region, Ericsson, added: "We have been working very proactively and Batelco has been an excellent partner to really anticipate the market here."