Telecom equipment giant Alcatel-Lucent and United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) leading mobile telecommunications operator Etisalat (News - Alert) have successfully completed broadband 4G LTE network trial using lightRadio portfolio. According to Alcatel-Lucent, this is the first mobile broadband connection made in the UAE using its lightRadio architecture over a working 4G LTE (News - Alert) network. This successful trial of 4G LTE technology in UAE marks a major milestone for the two companies.

Alcatel-Lucent said that it displayed the capabilities of its new lightRadio Metro Radio Outdoor (MRO) product at Etisalat’s headquarters in Abu Dhabi, making the lightning-fast data connection over Etisalat’s commercial 4G LTE network. This network is also powered by Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert).

According to Alcatel-Lucent, its lightRadio small cells product family extends the service provider’s LTE network to provide hot-spot coverage in densely populated areas such as shopping malls, airports and sports stadiums.

In the UAE, demand for high-speed connections to mobile broadband services, such as videoconferencing and on-demand TV, is being driven by the rapid proliferation of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. Last October, Alcatel-Lucent and Etisalat inked a co-operation deal to jointly develop the most efficient broadband connection to meet this demand using the lightRadio portfolio.

In a statement, H.E. Ahmad Abdul Karim Julfar, Etisalat Group CEO, said, “Etisalat is proud to be part of this program, helping to shape the future of mobile broadband networks to satisfy our customers’ growing demand. With lightRadio we will not only be able to accommodate this growth in traffic, but we will also be able to offer our customers the most innovative solutions so they can easily access the latest and greatest mobile data applications on their mobile device of choice.”

Similarly, Stephen Carter (News - Alert), president, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Alcatel-Lucent, stated, “We are happy to have the opportunity to work with Etisalat to leverage lightRadio to address their business needs.  The work completed as part of this successful project has yielded valuable data about how service providers such as Etisalat can very easily deploy Alcatel-Lucent’s metrocells to transform the mobile broadband experience for their customers, while at the same time reducing their power consumption, costs and equipment footprint.”