Bahrains telecoms operators are at a disadvantage to their Gulf competitors because the countrys regulator has not yet allocated the spectrum for next-generation high speed networks, a Batelco (Bahrain Telecommunications) executive said this week.

We expect to achieve high growth levels and turn into profit as soon as the period for capital restructuring is completed - Zain Saudi chairman Prince Hussam bin Saud

Zain Saudi will have to go ahead with a multibillion dollar capital restructuring in light of the failed US$950mn stake sale after Baletco and Kingdom Holding withdrew their joint bid.

Saudi Arabias Kingdom Holding and Bahrains Batelco announced that they have ended their joint bid for a 25 per cent stake in Zain KSA, estimated to be worth about US$1.2 billion.

The BlackBerry service offers Asiacells prepaid and postpaid subscribers an array of solutions including the Blackberry Internet Service.

Asiacell, the largest private Iraqi telecom provider, recently launched the BlackBerry solution service in Iraq.