Dubai: For consumers just getting used to 3G technology on their mobiles, along comes 4G.
"We always felt that 3G was just a stop-gap technology," explains Ali Amer, vice-president and general manager for Motorola Networks in Europe and Mena. "3G opened the door by showing that it was possible to watch videos on phones. 4G delivers the full potential, using LTE [Long Term Evolution]."
4G mobiles can stream video in real time, giving phone companies the ability to provide real-time news sport and entertainment videos, for example.
"Because of our experience in developing 2G, we were ahead of the curve in developing 4G," Amer explains. "We were sure 3G would be a temporary stage and I think that the deployment of 4G now shows we were right."
Amer played a key role earlier this year in getting Zain Saudi Arabia to deploy LTE technology in Riyadh. "It's very exciting to help Zain roll out LTE in the largest city in the kingdom. With the deployment in Shanghai, it shows Motorola is making 4G a reality. Consumers will be able to watch what they want and when they want in on their phones. That's very exciting."
Asked if etisalat and Du would be next, Amer was coy: "We are also talking to a number of service providers in the Gulf region to deploy LTE and 4G."
