Mobile Lines Top 2.3m as Landlines Fall
Mobile phone lines in Bahrain have jumped by nearly a third in five years, topping 2.3 million as landlines lose ground and businesses shed old-style phone connections at a far faster rate than homes.
The number of mobile lines stood at 2,316,986 at the end of 2025, up 30.8 per cent from 1,770,966 in 2020. That amounts to 546,020 extra lines, with the tally rising each year since its 2020 low.
Landlines have gone the other way. Residential and business lines fell 14.2 per cent over ten years, from 243,835 in 2015 to 209,282 last year, a loss of 34,553.
Businesses drove the fall.
Commercial landlines sank 31.6 per cent, from 90,814 in 2015 to 62,081 in 2025. The loss of 28,733 lines made up over 83 per cent of the whole drop in fixed connections.
Home landlines held up far better. Their number fell just 3.8 per cent over the decade, from 153,021 to 147,201.
That shift has left homes with a growing share of Bahrain’s remaining fixed lines. Residential connections made up 70.3 per cent of the total in 2025, up from 62.8 per cent in 2015. The business share fell from 37.2 per cent to 29.7 per cent.
The figures show how quickly firms have moved away from old multi-line phone systems as internet calls, cloud phones, video meetings and messaging apps take their place.
The biggest one-year fall in business landlines came in 2016, when 9,773 lines disappeared, a drop of 10.8 per cent. Another 7,388 were lost in 2021, down 9.99 per cent, while 2018 brought a 6.9 per cent fall.
Only 2019 broke the run, with business lines edging up 1.2 per cent.
The slide has since slowed sharply. Commercial lines fell 0.7 per cent in 2024 and just 0.08 per cent in 2025, equal to only 52 lines.
Home connections followed a gentler path. They peaked at 159,998 in 2017 before falling by 12,797, or 8 per cent, by the end of last year.
They even rose 1.3 per cent in 2020 as business lines slipped 0.6 per cent. That came during the pandemic, when work, lessons and much social contact shifted into homes, though the figures alone do not prove that this caused the rise.
Mobile use has followed a far wilder course.
Lines hit 2,994,865 in 2016 before falling for four straight years to 1,770,966 in 2020. That wiped out 1,223,899 subscriptions, a 40.9 per cent fall from the peak.
The drop was steepest in 2017, at 21 per cent, followed by falls of 11.5 per cent in 2018, 9.2 per cent in 2019 and 6.8 per cent in 2020.
Telecommunications Regulatory Authority figures help explain the 2016 peak. Its market report for that year linked high subscription numbers to deals offering unlimited data. Numbers then fell after most of those offers were removed.
Fewer people were also carrying several SIM cards. The share of users with two or more SIMs fell from 38 per cent in 2017 to 14 per cent in 2019, meaning part of the drop came from people cutting spare subscriptions rather than fewer people using mobile phones.
The market turned after 2020.
Mobile lines rose 8.6 per cent in 2021, 10.7 per cent in 2022, 5.7 per cent in 2023 and 2.9 per cent in 2024. Growth then almost stopped last year, with just 876 lines added.
Mobile subscriptions now dwarf fixed lines. They made up 91.7 per cent of all mobile and landline connections counted in 2025, against 8.3 per cent for fixed lines.
That works out at roughly 11 mobile lines for every landline.
Across the three groups, there were 2,526,268 subscriptions in 2025, down 21.8 per cent from 3,229,233 in 2016.
The figures count active subscriptions rather than people, since one person or company can hold several SIM cards or phone lines.
The swing away from old-style calls has come as internet use has soared.
Broadband data traffic rose from 692 million gigabytes in 2019 to 1.971 billion gigabytes in 2024, an increase of about 185 per cent, according to the latest TRA figures.
Mobile data use rose another 15 per cent in 2024, while mobile voice-call traffic fell 7 per cent.
Outgoing landline calls also dropped sharply, from 115 million minutes in 2023 to 100 million in 2024, a fall of about 18 per cent.
The regulator linked the decline to the growing use of internet calls and messaging apps in place of traditional landline calls.
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Bahrain’s Shift to Digital Communication
- Broadband data traffic: 1.971 billion GB in 2024, up from 692 million GB in 2019.
- Five-year increase: About 185% in broadband data traffic.
- Mobile data use: Up 15% in 2024.
- Mobile voice traffic: Down 7% in 2024.
- Landline outgoing calls: Fell from 115 million minutes in 2023 to 100 million minutes in 2024.
- Main trend: Growing use of internet calls and messaging apps is replacing traditional voice and landline calls.
- Important note: Subscription figures represent active subscriptions, not individual users, as one person or company may hold multiple SIM cards or phone lines.
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