Viva, the newest player to enter the Bahrain telecom sector, has claimed that an independent survey has placed its network ahead of other operators in the Kingdom.

The third-party Quality of Service survey, commissioned by the Telecommunication Regulatory Authority to evaluate and benchmark quality levels offered by Bahrain's mobile network operators, and conducted late last year, evaluated and compared their services from a user-end perspective with regard to voice, SMS, MMS and data.

Operators were tested on various key performance indicators over four weeks after which Viva users were found to have the fastest and most reliable voice and data services in the country, the company said.

According to the company, its customer advantage was particularly clear in the area of HSPA+ data network coverage, which at 97.2 per cent exceeded competitors' coverage.

It said average download speeds were also demonstrated to be at least 20 per cent more than the closest competitor. "We are proud of these results," said Viva chief executive officer Ibrahim Al Omar.

"It is our customers who have most reason to rejoice, because these results benefit them the most. We dedicate this success to them," he remarked.

The report also finds overall mobile service in Bahrain comparable to that in Switzerland and better than that in France and Germany.-TradeArabia News Service