Unlocking A New Mobile Broadband Experience In The MEA Region

Leading global telecommunications enabler Nokia Siemens Networks is transforming mobile broadband user experience in the Middle East Africa (MEA) region with its Long-Term Evolution (LTE) offering that delivers improved and faster data speeds to support a suite of multimedia and rich call applications.

“The timing of our road show could not be more opportune,” said Khaled Rabie, Egypt Country Director for Nokia Siemens Networks. “With Egypt and neighboring countries fast approaching saturation levels of mature mobile markets, the growth for the region’s operators will now come from advanced mobile data service offerings and not basic connectivity.”

LTE is the de-facto evolution path of the 3G mobile standard that is based on a full flat IP architecture and is optimized for data and multimedia traffic. Having demonstrated the world’s first LTE demo with data speeds up to 160 Mb/s, Nokia Siemens Networks has been at the forefront of developments in this space.

In Middle East Africa specifically, Nokia Siemens Networks was behind the region’s first LTE contract with Zain Bahrain. “Leading the evolution of broadband technology means our customers will be the first to benefit,” added Rabie. “Today, we are reinforcing our vision of five billion people connected by 2015, via a showcase of the latest next generation mobile broadband technology to mobile operators in the region.”

LTE will truly revolutionize the region’s mobile market, changing the way businesses and individuals communicate. The technology will unleash a plethora of new devices such as Internet telephones and videophones to end user services such as teleconferencing, telecommuting, to wider benefits in medical services such as remote diagnosis, interactive distance education, rich multimedia entertainment, digitally-controlled home appliances and much more.

“What’s more the Nokia Siemens Networks LTE proposition is based on software upgrades to current 3G networks that are currently deployed by a majority of regional mobile operators,” added Rabie

At the heart of the Nokia Siemens Networks’ solution is its Flexi Base Station that supports multiple technologies from GSM/EDGE and WCDMA/HSPA to LTE on a single platform. Being only 20% of the size and weight of a conventional base station, it is energy efficient and designed to minimize the overall cost of network operation and maintenance.