Experts say UAE will be one of the first nations to adopt 4G |
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The UAE and other GCC states will roll out the fourth generation, or 4G, mobile telecommunications technology more quickly than they adopted its predecessor, 3G, say experts.
The 3G mobile phone standard was supposed to be ready by late 2000 but was adopted worldwide only in 2007. However, 4G, which will provide faster voice, data and streamed multimedia services, is due to be launched in 2010 - and the UAE will be one of the first countries to have it.
"In worldwide markets 3G technology was introduced in haste and mobile handsets were not ready for it," said Dr Eesa Bastaki, an education and technology consultant at Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority.
"EtisalatEtisalat
was offering 64 kilobits per second and with 3G and they had to move to bandwidth speeds of two megabits per second. Mobile phones have not been ready for this kind of technology until now."The 3G standard was followed by a faster version called 3G+, which Bastaki said was introduced to cover up some of the problems experienced with 3G.
"3G+ was created after 3G's problems were solved. Because of this, 4G will have no problems as no work will be needed on infrastructure and integration can be achieved easily. It will be much easier to move onto 4G."
Khaldoun Al Agha, a professor at the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control and General Chairman of the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP), said another factor that helped 3G+ to take off was the adoption of wireless technology.
"With wireless you have one terminal as your computer, mobile, TV and multimedia player that is compatible with all devices in the environment," he said. "This facilitates 4G as integration of new technologies is possible. "Consumers will be ready as they are already using the latest technologies and will adapt to 4G quickly. As 4G is based largely on wireless you only need antennas and base stations rather than cabling infrastructure."
Bastaki said: "The UAE will be among the first countries to adopt 4G technology. EtisalatEtisalat
and du have done good work in building up the basic fibre-optic infrastructure. By Nancy Sudheer
© Emirates Business 24/7 2008
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