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29 March 2024

300mbps Internet in UAE soon

Published
By Joseph George with inputs from WAM

Forget 4G and 100Mbps downloads, very soon residents in the UAE will be able to access internet speeds of upto 300mbps. Du has also tied up with Alcatel-Lucent to equip its network of speeds up to massive 100Gbps.

UAE has already installed cables with a technical capability to deliver speeds of upto 1Gbps. At such a speed you will even be able to download a HD movie is less then 3 seconds.

150Mbps by Etisalat

Meanwhile, Etisalat has announced the exclusive launch of 4G LTE mobile broadband devices available from Huawei at highest speeds of 150Mbps in the UAE. The new devices will be available at all Etisalat business centres from tomorrow [Monday, June 17, 2013].

The portable 150 Mbps 4G LTE WiFi Modem allows users to enjoy a multiple super-fast internet connection they can share with up to 10 of their friends, family and work for their laptop, smartphones or tablets. The device works on 4G as well as 3G network, according to Etisalat.

Khaled El Khouly, Chief Marketing Officer, Etisalat, said: "With the launch of the 4G LTE internet devices, Etisalat further empowers customers in the UAE by offering them the fastest and most reliable internet performance, linking multiple users to a single connection which they can access from wherever they are located.

Osman Sultan, CEO of du told Emirates 24|7 that the company is upgrading its network in order to offer a much higher speed for its customers, and it is just a matter of time before the services are rolled out.

1Gbps Du capacity

“On the fixed line we can offer speeds upto 1Gbps. Technically we have the capacity,” he added. While both the core network as well as the access network is capable of delivering that speed, the only issue is at the CPE -the device that is installed at home. Old buildings only have CPE’s that can carry upto 100mbps per second. However, devices capable of 1Gbps internet are being installed in all new buildings.

When asked about when UAE residents could freely choose between either du or etisalat for their home connection, he  said, “We are working with the telecom regulatory authority and etisalat with this regard.”

Currently certain residential areas are only the domain of du while other that of Etisalat. According to du it currently covers about 150,000 houses with its triple play service out of a total connections of 1 million.

Meanwhile, in terms of practicality consumers will be offered by telecom providers will be speeds upto 200 to 400Mbps.

“Work is on to equip the other buildings with similar devices. Now we have to think of the right pricing for consumer as to how much they will have to pay for 200 or 300mbps,” he said.

“We are working together with the regulatory authority and others including Etisalat. It is just a matter of time,” he added.

According to him telecom operators are witnessing increasing revenue from data in comparison to voice.

Meanwhile, in preparation of future demand du is already gearing up to reach speeds of 100gbps. It recently signed an agreement with Alcatel-Lucent selecting the latter to build the second phase of a high-speed 100G coherent optical transport network throughout the United Arab Emirates.

The new optical transport network will enable the provider to dramatically boost the speed and capacity of its existing network.

Du will use Alcatel-Lucent's 1830 Photonic Service Switch (PSS) to address the booming demand for high-bandwidth data services.

According to a recent announcement the unique Bell Labs silicon innovations will enable the new network to support data speeds of 100 gigabits-per-second on each of the 88 wavelengths. Alcatel-Lucent's 100G fibere optic technology supports a capacity of up to 8.8 Terabit per second - the equivalent of 1.32 million HDTV channels streamed at the same time - over a single optical fibre.