Batelco First Telecommunications Company in Bahrain to be Awarded ISO 27001 Certification

Batelco’s Wholesale Division has achieved ISO 27001 Certification -the International Standard for Information Security Management, following a rigorous auditing process conducted by Bureau Veritas Certification.

Batelco is the first telecommunications company in the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Middle East region to achieve the ISO 27001 certification for its Wholesale operations.

A number of Batelco teams, led by the Information Security Team, cooperated to complete the comprehensive process and meet all the set criteria required by the auditing team at Bureau Veritas.

Batelco Chief Executive Bahrain Gert Rieder received the ISO 27001 certificate from Bureau Veritas Chief Executive for KSA & Bahrain Nicolas Mey at an official ceremony which took place at Batelco Hamala Headquarters recently. The event was attended by a number of Batelco’s management including Group Chief Financial Officer Kataryna Stapleton and General Manager Wholesale & Carrier Relations John Ford.

Representative from the various teams that delivered the ISO achievement including Batelco’s Risk Management and Information Security teams, were also in attendance.

The ISO 27001 compliance certificate provides assurance that Batelco takes information security seriously. Batelco has an Information Security Management System (ISMS) in place, which complies with best practices for information security management as per the ISO 27001 standards. Batelco customers’ data is protected in accordance with these international standards.

“Batelco has a distinct differentiation in the market place when it comes to protecting its customer’s data and this certification now confirms that we have best practices in place,” said Mr. Rieder.

General Manager Wholesale & Carrier Relations John Ford added that the Wholesale Division is proud to have achieved the recognition for information security.

“As a standalone separate business unit in the Company it is especially important for our Wholesale customers and the Regulator to know that we value the confidentiality of our correspondence,” he said.

Bureau Veritas Chief Executive for KSA & Bahrain Nicolas Mey said that Batelco achievement to meet the requirement of ISO 27001 was a combination of the top managements’ true commitment and ongoing effort of their teams in achieving this goal.

“Without the top management commitment this would have not been a success. This shows the prime concern that Batelco has, not only in handling customer information in a confidential and secure manner, which they have been doing for years, but in ensuring through an Independent third party Certification Body that their system of handling such customer information was up to the International Standard.”

“This certification will surely give extra confidence to the public within the Kingdom of Bahrain and overseas that Batelco through their Wholesale Division implements and maintains an internationally qualified Information Management System for the satisfaction and the benefit of their customers and clients, and the telecommunication market players,” he added.