Bahrain slashes phone call rates to 70 countries

Callers from Bahrain to India, Iran Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines no longer have to worry about peak and off-peak hours.

They can now make their calls at any time of the day or night at just one rate as Bahrain Telecommunications Co (Batelco) has slashed the cost of international phone calls to 70 countries by amounts of up to 190 fils per minute.

Some of the big cuts are for popular calling destinations such as the UK, the U.S.A., Canada, the Philippines, Iran and India. For example, "a massive 160 fils has been slashed off the price of calling Iran at the former peak rate," a company spokesman said yesterday.

Peak-rate calls to the U.S., Canada and the UK are now 100 fils-per-minute cheaper, with 120 fils being cut from the off-peak rate. The price of calling the Philippines has been cut by 90 fils on the former peak-rate.

"Batelco has been able to make cuts, and other changes, partly as a result of its negotiations with counterpart telecom operators in other countries.

"Those dealings have provided more scope for price cuts in some countries than in others, but Batelco continues to negotiate with the aim of bringing down prices wherever possible," the spokesman added.

Batelco's Chairman Sheikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said the announcement "signals the seventh such international call price-cut in six years and offers proof that Batelco is serious about forcing down prices at every opportunity.

"In fact, making reductions in our international calls tariffs has become something of a Batelco tradition."

Yesterday's announcement follows the deep cuts Batelco made in its mobile phone tariffs earlier this year when up to 40 per cent rentals were slashed off and the cost of calls were slashed up to 47 per cent.