Nigeria's second national telecommunications operator, Globacom on Tuesday in Lagos launched the first 4G-LTE network in the country.

Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a Fourth Generation Mobile Technology which enhances the data transfer rates delivering unmatched mobile broadband experience and highest data speeds and reliability.

Group Chief Operating Officer of Globacom, Mr. Mohamed Jameel told journalists that though people can already browse the Internet or send e-mails using HSPA-enabled systems and send or receive video or music using G phones, the experience with LTE would be even better.

“It will further enhance more demanding applications like interactive TV, mobile video blogging, advanced games or professional services, enabling more Nigerians to be on top of their game and thereby ruling their world”, he added.

“For our subscribers, LTE offers the key benefits of performance and capacity”, he said, adding that with its speed and reliability, LTE, more than any other technology, already meets key 4G requirements. He expressed happiness that Globacom was leading the way in introducing another transformational experience in Nigeria as “we have always been in the forefront of providing tools of business success for Nigerians.”

4G-LTE is designed to be backwards-compatible with GSM and HSPA, incorporates Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) in combination with Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) in the downlink and Single Carrier FDMA in the uplink to provide high levels of spectral efficiency and end user data rates exceeding 100 Mbps. It is also backed with major improvements in capacity and reductions in latency.

The Globacom chief also said that there are over 24 networks in the world which have already adapted and launched 4G-LTE networks across the world. It’s the state of art technology and we will now connect the demanding corporate customers and high data users through the latest 4G-LTE wireless broadband connection to Glo 1 and then the rest of the world. He further said that the company was being proactive in meeting the mobile broadband need of its growing subscriber base. As the data dependence and applications grow, the need to deliver higher speeds on wireless would continue to grow.

He disclosed that by 2012, an estimated 1.8 billion people worldwide will have access to broadband services and that nearly two-thirds of this number will be mobile broadband consumers who will be served by LTE (Long Term Evolution) networks. He said Globacom is committed to bring all such latest & best technologies available in the world to Nigeria.

He recalled that Globacom led the way in the introduction of cutting edge technology and services in Nigeria. Prominent among the innovations which Globacom pioneered are the Per Second Billing, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Magic Plus, Glo Direct, Glo Mobile Internet, Glo Fleetmanager, M-Banking, Glo Mobile Office, Africhat, Glo Foneplas, all running on a superior 2.5G network at roll-out. The company also introduced Blackberry to Nigeria long before others began to join the train and equally pioneered 3.5G Commercial Roll-out in the country.

LTE is the next step from 3.5G & High Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for many users not only those on the GSM technology curve but also for others too, such as CDMA and WiMAX and is touted to offer the path breaking 4G experience for consumers.

It presents an unimaginable opportunity to deliver lightning fast data speeds in excess of 100Mb/s uplink and 50Mb/s downlink. As such, it will revolutionize deployment of data centric applications High Definition Video Streaming, HD-Video bridging, Interactive Multiple Gamming, E-Health Care among others.

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