MENA Telecom Industry Envisions Path for LTE Commercialization

Mobilk - With today’s 4G LTE telecom networks powering a better connected world, Huawei—a leading global information and communications technology (ICT) solutions provider—has proposed a roadmap for how telecom operators in the MENA region will be able to drive new revenue streams from LTE through additional solutions and services developed for local consumers.    

The widespread advancement of the region’s mobile broadband industry is taking center stage at this week’s LTE MENA 2014 conference where Huawei is set to join more than 800 experts from the global ICT sector as the Diamond Sponsor of this year’s forum.  

“Access to advanced 4G LTE services is rapidly increasing across the MENA region, and this is in turn changing the behavior of individuals and organizations when it comes to doing businesses, sharing information with friends, and achieving more while on the go,” says Mr. Ihab Ghattas, Assistant President of Huawei Middle East. “For operators, being able to quickly deploy LTE services, ensure quality of the network, and determine when a market is mature enough for ultra-capacity services are all becoming increasingly significant benchmarks not just for consumers using mobile services, but for operators’ bottom line.”

Over the last five years Huawei has featured prominently when it comes to LTE partnerships in the Middle East through its unique end-to-end offerings across telecom networks, the cloud, and consumer devices. 

During this year’s LTE MENA forum Mr. Ghattas will be joined by a number of top Huawei experts looking at the long-term business opportunities opening up for operators in the region, including the widely-anticipated voice over LTE (VoLTE) communications. Expanding the use of Small Cell technology for creating public WiFi networks—a key element of many regional Smart City initiatives—will also be a key point of deliberation.

The integration of LTE services into more vertical sectors, as well as the research and development around 5th generation (5G) mobile services, will also be presented as operators look to power endless possibilities for their customers.

At the conference Huawei is further spotlighting a new Device Evolution Roadmap for creating more inspired experiences through handheld mobile devices. The company has already released a range of LTE-compatible devices across multiple categories—from smartphones to tablets, WiFi units, and home devices. The shortage of such devices in the Middle East has been widely recognized as one of the final inhibitors to comprehensive expansion of LTE services.

As of today, Huawei had launched 126 commercial LTE networks worldwide and had signed more than 290 commercial LTE contracts across six continents. The company has worked with top regional operators to deploy the Middle East’s first ever LTE commercial networks and within the last few months several operators in the Middle East have also announced partnerships with Huawei to launch commercial LTE-Advanced networks in the coming years.

Visitors can find Huawei at the LTE MENA 2014 exhibition zone.