According to Ali Al Ahmed, Etisalat's Corporate Communications Director, the LTE standard is a promising fourth (4G) generation of mobile communications, characterized by high data transfer speed and improved voice quality. To the fourth generation, it is customary to attribute promising technologies that allow data transmission at a speed exceeding 100 Mbit / s to mobile subscribers and 1 Gbit / s to stationary ones.
The fourth-generation Etisalat network is expected to allow data transfer at a speed of 150 Mbit / s instead of the 42 Mbit / s available today. The LTE standard will be launched at 800 Etisalat base stations located in the UAE. It should be noted that the Emirates will be the first country in the Middle East to use the LTE standard. From a technical point of view, the main difference between fourth-generation and third-generation networks is that 4G technology is completely based on packet data protocols, while 3G combines the transmission of voice traffic and “packets”. For "voice" in 4G VoIP technology is provided, which allows you to make voice calls using fast "packet" data transfer. Recall that not so long ago, Etisalat completed the design and deployment of a fiber optic network in Abu Dhabi, which made the country's capital the first capital in the world, completely covered by a fiber optic network.
The international rating agency Moody's reported that the prospects for the development of the telecommunications industry of the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) are, according to its experts, stable, and they expect moderate growth in profits. Nevertheless, the annual profit of four former telecommunication monopolists in the GCC - Emirate Etisalat, Saudi Saudi Telecom Co, Omani Omantel and Bahraini Batelco - decreased by more than 10% in 2010, and continued to move down in the first quarter of this year.
Cellular penetration in the GCC countries is one of the highest in the world, and varies from 130% in Kuwait to 230% in the UAE.
