Project designed to rationalize Bahrain’s tower infrastructure and establish a dedicated permitting unit, supported by a digital management system to enforce compliance and streamline deployment.
The challenge
Unregulated tower deployment in Bahrain had created safety, regulatory, and aesthetic concerns across the country.
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) needed to rationalize existing tower infrastructure, introduce structured permitting processes, and ensure compliance with new tower regulations.
This required developing organizational structures, digital systems, and regulatory tools to manage permits, monitor compliance, and guide future deployments.
Project outline
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Tower Rationalisation & Regulatory Framework
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Conducted audits of existing towers and masts to assess structural, regulatory, and visual compliance.
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Analyzed deployment challenges and identified infrastructure consolidation opportunities.
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Developed an organizational design and business case for a national permitting unit.
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Drafted RFPs and supported vendor selection for the tower inventory and monitoring system.
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Created legalization policies for legacy towers and issued deployment guidelines.
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Establishment of the Permitting Unit
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Set up an operational office and project team for the new permitting unit at TRA.
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Developed workflows, processes, and KPIs to support permit issuance and compliance monitoring.
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Deployed a digital Towers Management System to automate permit processing and regulatory reporting.
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Issued permits and dashboards, and prepared annual compliance reports.
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Conducted compliance audits and surveys to monitor tower conditions and adherence to regulations.
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Our impact
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Created Bahrain’s first structured tower permitting and compliance framework.
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Rationalized existing tower infrastructure, improving safety, aesthetics, and regulatory governance.
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Established a fully operational permitting unit with digital systems for automation and monitoring.
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Strengthened TRA’s ability to regulate tower deployment, enforce standards, and ensure coordinated national infrastructure planning.
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Provided long-term tools and processes to support future 5G rollout and telecom infrastructure expansion.
Duration:
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Tower Rationalization & Framework: January 2016 – December 2017
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Permitting Unit Implementation: September 2017 – September 2022