Dubai: Etisalat says customers with laptops will be able to surf with 4G internet before mobile phone users.
Ali Al Ahmad, chief corporate communications officer at etisalat, said the company would start selling USB dongles giving users super speeds within two months.
His comments come amid a reported row over which UAE telecom operator will be first to go live with higher speed broadband.
Speaking to Gulf News yesterday, Al Ahmad said there is no question etisalat would be first past the post after spending Dh6 billion on rolling out 4G broadband services.
"Yes, it's ready and we have covered over 80 per cent of the UAE," said Al Ahmad, noting that the new 4G service went live in late September.
Three times faster
With speeds of up to 150 mbps, Al Ahmad said "the speed is incomparable to any network" and is three times faster than 3G networks.
The difference in speed will be noticeable for customers, especially those who download movies. Files that now take two hours to download will take seconds on the new 4G services.
But Al Ahmad said that while etisalat is ready for the shift to 4G, there are still no mobile handsets with the ability to use the super speed.
"Keep in mind, there are no devices yet," Al Ahmad said, pointing out that it could well be next year before major phone manufacturers release 4G-enabled mobile phones in the UAE.
On the other side of the Gitex event at the Dubai International Conference and Exhibition Centre, du CEO Osman Sultan said, when asked by Gulf News, that his company won't be actually offering live 4G services until sometime next year.
"The rollout, launch, will probably not be in 2011," he said. "No rush."
Problems dismissed
"This is not yet in commercial use," Sultan told reporters in a media roundtable at the du exhibition display.
He dismissed reports of problems between his company and etisalat.
Sultan claimed that du was "first to offer 42 mbps in the region" and affirmed that etisalat has nothing to do with du's push to become 4G compliant.
"Everything on mobile is our own network," he said. "We do not share any telecom structure [for the 4G network services]."
