Telecom service provider Zain Kuwait is planning to launch commercial LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) in Kuwait. Huawei is supporting the network.
Zain’s wireless broadband network will deliver speeds of up to 300 Mb/s, which is around twice the speed currently possible with existing LTE mobile networks.
Earlier, EE, a telecom operator in the U.K., said it would launch LTE-A and it will be powered by the Chinese telecom equipment maker.
Zain Kuwait and Huawei will activate over 100 LTE-A cell sites during a first phase, with Zain Kuwait indicating that the technology will later be made available across the country as more sites become operational.
“The deployment of this milestone commercial LTE-A network will jump start the next phase of mobile communications in the Middle East, providing mobile broadband customers across Kuwait an opportunity to enjoy unparalleled communication services,” said Omar Al Omar, CEO of Zain Kuwait.
Zain has 39 percent market share in mobile broadband in Kuwait with nearly 10 percent of its mobile customers having already migrated to 4G LTE. The company is expecting this number to rise sharply in the coming months after deploying LTE-Advanced technology.
Huawei has deployed Carrier Aggregation (CA), which allows for full utilization of spectrum resources scattered across multiple frequency bands.
According to a GSA report in August 2013, 443 operators are investing in LTE and 200 commercial LTE networks are in operation. Of these, Huawei won 196 commercial LTE network contracts and deployed 93 commercial LTE networks, accounting for 40 percent of awarded LTE network contracts; more than any other vendor globally.