Telecom Lead Asia: Mobitel of Sri Lanka is set to launch FDD-LTE based commercial 4G mobile network in Sri Lanka. The network will be powered by ZTE.
This will be the first FDD-LTE based commercial 4G mobile network in South Asia.
Recently, Mobitel increased its 2G and 3G base stations by over 1000 sites. The expansion enabled the Sri Lankan telecom operator to become a dominant operator servicing North and East.
For its FDD-LTE launch, Mobitel has tied up with ZTE for a deal worth $40 million.
ZTE will deploy over 700 2G/3G/4G LTE base stations and transmission equipment for Mobitel’s Stage VII Mobile Network Expansion Project. Upon completion of the project, it will be South Asia’s first commercial 4G (FDD-LTE) network. ZTE became the major telecommunication equipment vendor for Mobitel after the completion of the Stage VI Mobile Network Expansion Project in June 2012.
“The next major development in our technological footprint through this new expansion will be the introduction of the latest long term evolution (LTE) standard, which will be the commercial deployment of 4G Mobile Technology,” said Mobitel CEO Lalith De Silva.
“The fact that Mobitel awarded ZTE with the Stage VII Expansion contract shows that we’ve achieved a world-leading position with our innovative products and reliable services,” said ZTE Senior Vice President Zhang Renjun.
ZTE’s income from Sri Lankan telecom market is more than $400 million.
“LTE mobile technology will be the next leading technology for mobile broadband services globally. All our new base stations will be LTE ready. We are also on a further drive to educate and demonstrate LTE to our customers and we are indeed proud to say that we are the first in South Asia to do so. All the base stations are connected through SLT nationwide fiber network ensuring high reliability, high quality and high capacity bandwidth connectivity,” said Chandana Gunasekara, general manager – Projects & Network Planning of Mobitel.
