Batelco will buy 46 percent of Qualitynet from Ali al-Ghanim & Sons for an undisclosed fee, raising the Bahraini firm's holding to 90 percent from 44 percent previously. The deal will likely be concluded in March, a company statement said.
Kuwait's Ministry of Communications ultimately owns and operates the country's fixed-line infrastructure, with about four major Internet service providers including Qualitynet paying the government to use it.
Qualitynet's 2013 revenue was 31.3 million dinars ($83.0 million), down 8.9 percent from 2012, which provided Batelco with a profit of 2.41 million dinars, the latter's annual report shows.
As of September 2012, Qualitynet claimed a 45 percent share of Kuwait's fixed-line Internet market, which operates largely on a copper-based network.
The lack of widespread fibre connectivity has led many Kuwaiti residents to opt instead for mobile Internet provided by the country's three mobile operators: Zain , Saudi Telecom Co affiliate Viva and Wataniya, a subsidiary of Qatar's Ooredoo .
($1 = 0.3770 Bahraini dinars)