Kuwait's ambition for High Speed Internet

Kuwait's thirst for faster internet speed has been growing. All the Service providers are moving in that direction, be it Fiber Optic cables or 5G networks. CLICK HERE to read the article about projects being executed towards that direction.

Ministry of Communication has been upping their game with Fiber Optic cable replacements of older cable networks in existing cities and installation of fiber optics in all newer cities. This is already helping in increasing the current 10 -14 Mbps to even more higher speed of 50-100 Mbps speeds. Current internet plans by the different Internet Service Providers (ISP) are as below (as of 5th January 2019).

With the Landline ISPs moving ahead in the game, the Mobile ISPs have also been eyeing the 5G networks,  with current speeds of 21 Mbps to 42 Mbps being provided on the 4G networks. Lots of Offer packages are out on all of ISPs.

CLICK HERE for the previous posts about the Internet in Kuwait.

Internet Service Providers of Kuwait

Quality Net

Website: https://www.qualitynet.net/

Instagram: qualitynet_q8 (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: qualitynet_q8 (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: QualityNetkw (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 1808888 , 1804444

FastTelco

Website: https://www.fasttelco.net/

Instagram: fasttelco (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: fasttelco (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: FASTtelco (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 1886666

KEMS

Website: http://www1.kems.net/

Instagram: kemsinternet (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: KEMSinternet (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: KEMSinternet (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 1822822

BOnline

(previously Gulfnet)

Website: https://www.bonline.com.kw/

Instagram: bonlinekw (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: bonlinekw (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: bonlinekw (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 1816666

Mada

Website: http://www.mada.com.kw/

Instagram: mada_kuwait (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: Mada_Kuwait (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: Mada.Kuwait (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 1822888

BWireless

(previously WiMD)

Website: https://bwireless.com.kw/en/

Instagram: bwirelesskw (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: bwirelesskw (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: BWirelesskw (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 1800055

Zain

(Previously MTC)

Website: https://www.kw.zain.com/

Instagram: zainkuwait (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: zainkuwait (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: zainkuwait (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 107

Ooredoo

(Previously Wataniya)

Website: https://www.ooredoo.com.kw/

Instagram: OoredooKuwait (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: OoredooKuwait (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: OoredooKuwait (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 121

Viva

Website: http://www.viva.com.kw/

Instagram: VivaTelecom (CLICK HERE)

Twitter: VivaTelecom (CLICK HERE)

Facebook: VivaQ8 (CLICK HERE)

Customer Care: 102

UPDATES (01/10/2019): OCTOBER 2019

Infoconnect 2013 - Jan 27

Courtesy to www.waw.cc

The Infoconnect exhibition will be starting on the 27th January 2013 with the opening ceremony being exclusively for VIPs. Click HERE to enter the official site. A whole week of this exhibition in Hall No 6 and 7 of Kuwait International Fair Ground in Mishref is definitely a place to check out. I am hoping for some amazing offers to be kicking in, be it the telecommunication, internet services or hardware. Usually the telecom companies Zain, Wataniya and Viva go all out during the exhibition making it the most happening place.

The timings for the week from Monday to Thursday will be 9 am to 1 pm and 4 pm to 9 pm. Friday 4 pm to 10 pm. One of my personal suggestions would be that people should check out the parking spaces for Hall no 6 and 7; and also the different entry and exits for the Kuwait International Fair grounds in the coming weeks, so that they can have less discomfort during the exhibition days as this is the cold and rainy season in Kuwait. The exhibition is to be closing down by 2nd February 2013. Update: Some photos from the Infoconnect Exhibition can be seen below.

Internet in Kuwait

This has been one topic which I wanted to write about or atleast let people know of. This post is not going to highlight anything new but will summarize some of the things. 2012 brought the number of Internet Service Providers (ISPs) down from 5 to 4 for Wired Connectivity.

• Quality Net
• Fasttelco
• Kems
• Gulfnet

The above 4 companies have been recently given licence by Ministry of Communication (MoC) for a period of two years for a fees of 250,000 KD (Kuwaiti Dinars). Also along with that, the ISPs were asked to reduce the prices by 40% bringing the internet to some tempting prices. This reduction of price was introduced quiet early (mid 2011) but many existing customers did not know about it until the Infoconnect 2012 exhibition held in Jan-Feb 2012. I doubled my speed after paying a small difference with the new price list. The prices list for all the above 4 ISPs are amazingly similar varying only by 1 KD in most cases. People term this as Monopolization. The above wired internet connectivity is still the most economical for people if one has landline.

Wireless Internet connectivity is slightly new to Kuwait but still not that popular as it is not known to many. Here is a blog post which gives you good idea about the Kuwait experience and price list. I really did enjoy Wireless Internet connectivity experience when I was in India, Bangalore. It was newly introduced into India in January 2007 and I became a testing customer. I had a 3 months of unstable up-down connection till the technical team could figure out the in and out of the technology. During that time, I still hanged onto the wired internet. In India, the wireless internet is not that far off in price when comparing to the wired internet connectivity. In Kuwait, the two companies handling this is WiMD and MADA.

The telecom internet companies are Zain, Wataniya and Viva. They are competing against each other for customers in varieties of products from

• Mobile Internet for iphones, blackberrys and other smartphones.
• Single User internet (USB devices)
• Multi User Internet (Routers - Battery operated to standalone routers)

The telecom networks are still going to have a lot of challenge as they keep jumping the speed. Started with 256kbps to 512 kbps to 7.2 mbps to 21.6 mbps. I just hope that the network backbone can hold up as people in Kuwait are hungry for speed. Look into this blog post for a clearer picture.