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Internet users in Bahrain are enjoying triple the upload speeds and far faster downloads than last year, after a regulatory push to raise entry-level fibre speeds ... but outdated home routers remain a key obstacle, according to a recently published report.
US-based connectivity intelligence firm Ookla has issued a report which found that median Internet download speeds jumped from 86 Mbps at the end of 2024 to 130.74 Mbps by mid-2025, placing the kingdom among the Middle East’s leaders in fibre adoption.
Upload speeds have nearly tripled over the same period, rising from 20.7 Mbps to 58.9 Mbps, bringing Bahrain on par with Saudi Arabia.
Fixed network performance across the GCC and Jordan
“Since 2024, regulatory mandates and commercial upgrades across the Gulf and Jordan have driven a significant surge in fixed-broadband performance: minimum entry-level speeds doubled or tripled in some markets, fibre coverage expanded and gigabit-plus packages became more common,” lead researcher Karim Yaici noted in his report.
“In April 2023, Bahrain’s telecoms regulator mandated ISPs to double the speed of entry-level fibre packages while maintaining the same wholesale prices.
“In March 2025, minimum speeds were further increased from 100 Mbps to 300 Mbps.
“This impacted the ISPs immediately, with median download speeds jumping from 86.61 Mbps in Q4 2024 to 130.74 Mbps in Q2 2025.”
The policy has spurred a rapid uptake of fibre subscriptions and helped Bahrain emerge alongside regional peers such as the UAE, Qatar and Jordan in broadband performance rankings. However, despite these gains, many users are still unable to fully exploit the higher speeds due to legacy home Wi-Fi equipment.
Households continue to rely on older Wi-Fi standards, including Wi-Fi 4 and 5, which significantly limit real-world download and upload speeds.
Research shows that upgrading to Wi-Fi 6 can increase download speeds more than 10-fold compared to Wi-Fi 4, underscoring the potential performance gap in Bahraini homes.
In Bahrain, Wi-Fi 4 routers topped at 45.65 Mbps according to speed tests conducted by Ookla.
A distribution chart showing what percentage of users have legacy equipment vs Wi-Fi 6 and 7
“Our research showed that most commercial CPEs introduced in the region since 2020 likely support Wi-Fi 5, if not Wi-Fi 6,” researchers added. “Therefore, many users are capable of using Wi-Fi 5 but are still on Wi-Fi 4.
“Misconfigured routers and the continued use of legacy customer premises equipment (CPE) and old devices at home could be the primary causes of the prevalence of legacy Wi-Fi 4 Speedtest samples in these countries.”
To address this, ISPs in Bahrain have launched initiatives to upgrade CPEs, including offering Wi-Fi 6-compatible routers and mesh Wi-Fi systems, sometimes bundled with gigabit packages.
These efforts aim to deliver consistent gigabit speeds (1 GBps or higher) across entire homes, a trend also being pursued across the Gulf region.
The affordability of high-end plans has also been a key factor in driving adoption.
“Another factor that can drive gigabit Internet adoption is affordability,” researchers explained, noting that entry-level gigabit packages in Bahrain have dropped from $345 (BD130) in late 2023 to around $117 (BD44), making ultra-fast broadband accessible to a wider segment of the population.
Fibre upload performance across the GCC and Jordan
Across the Gulf and Jordan, fibre deployment continues to expand. Median download speeds now exceed 300 Mbps in the UAE, 180 Mbps in Jordan, and 120 Mbps in Saudi Arabia.
Bahrain’s gains mark one of the fastest improvements in the region, signalling the kingdom’s ambition to strengthen digital infrastructure and support the increasing demand for high-speed Internet at home and in business.
The data used to generate the report was collected from voluntary Internet speed tests conducted by users on Ookla’s online broadband speed test.
naman@gdnmedia.bh
The GDN’s report on Internet connectivity earlier this month
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