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LTE in the UAE: Poised for growth [Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates)](Khaleej Times (United Arab Emirates) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) The UAE has for long been the flag bearer for technological innovations in the Middle East. Right from launching the region's first metro service a few years ago, to more recently, inaugurating the Dubai Smart City vision, the country has been setting the pace for growth in the region. One of the key engines that is driving this growth for the country is its advanced telecommunication infrastructure, more importantly its high-speed mobile broadband network. Here, the latest technology currently gaining traction is Long Term Evolution (LTE). LTE enables its users to access high speed Internet on their mobile devices. The UAE leads its peers in LTE adoption and both its operators, du and etisalat, have been offering the technology for a few years now. At the end of last year, 2013, the LTE penetration in the UAE stood at six per cent, way ahead of the three per cent penetration witnessed in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) and higher also than the overall GCC average of 4.5 per cent. Until recently, the growth pace of LTE had been a bit slow in the country, since a few key factors needed for its adoption were under developed. Primary amongst these were the lack of availability of the handsets that supported LTE and only a small LTE network coverage that was available for customers. However, both of these key factors have now been addresses by the market. A string of recent devices launches, from almost all major handset manufacturers, has more or less addressed the issue of device availability. Most of the new premium (more than Dh1,500) and mid-segment (Dh1,500-1,000) handsets that are currently being introduced in the UAE market are LTE-enabled. As of now, there are enough LTE compatible device options available in the UAE market to cater to all relevant customer segments. In the coming years, as technology advances, and handset prices inch downwards, even more consumers would be able to join the LTE bandwagon. Another aspect that was adversely impacting the uptake of LTE was its availability. Initially, LTE was available only in limited areas within the country. So subscribers who had LTE connections, but were out of LTE coverage zone, were witnessing an erosion of their usage experience. However, spurred by the tremendous response to LTE by UAE's population, both operators have announced plans to enhance their LTE coverage within the country. The operator du has laid out plans to expand its LTE network by 25 per cent over and above its original expansion goals for 2014. Previously, du had managed to double its LTE coverage within the first three months of this year. Similarly, Etisalat too is on a network expansion phase. The operator has plans to cover 99 per cent of populated areas in the UAE with its LTE service by 2015. These also include densely populated areas such as buildings, shopping malls, stadiums, airports and others similar areas. With these two main factors being accounted for, LTE as a technology can only grow from strength to strength. However, there still are some obstacles that need to be negotiated before du and Etisalat can benefit from LTE's true potential. One of them is educating their respective customer bases about the benefits of using LTE and promoting schemes that encourage them to take up the technology. Further, operators also need to price their LTE offerings in a way that they are affordable for a majority of their target market. However, with time, these issues too are expected to take care of themselves and going forward, LTE is expected to become a main stay of the future mobile networks within the country. This growth of LTE would not just help the telecom operators, but LTE would, in turn, become the key enabler towards fulfilling the goals set for the Dubai Smart City as well as other similar smart initiatives within the country. The stage is now set for the UAE to also provide LTE leadership to the region, adding yet another feather to the UAE's already multi-feathered cap. The writer is a UAE-based strategy consultant specialising in the telecoms industry. Views expressed by him are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy. (c) 2014 Khaleej Times. All Rights Reserved. Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info). |