MTN Uganda plans to deploy Long Term Evolution (LTE) network in Uganda during the coming months, which will make it the first to offer this technology in East Africa.
Popularly known as 4G, LTE is a ‘standard for wireless communication of high-speed data for mobile phones and data terminals’. A 4G system provides mobile ultra-broadband internet access.MTN Uganda has announced the network infrastructure upgrade plan to provide its customers with world-class data access and speed of up to 100Mbps. With the upgraded data speed, an MTN data customer will enjoy faster access to the Internet and superior quality live streaming and video chatting, to mention a few benefits.

As good news to the largest mobile subscriber base in Uganda, MTN will over the next few months rollout the 4G network leading the way by introducing the latest technologies to Ugandans. Over the last two years, MTN Uganda has made major investments in the Uganda. MTN Uganda launched the first mobile money service in Uganda with tremendous success, introduced 3G+, expanded its distribution foot print, and greatly enhanced the core, radio capacity and infrastructure technology. Furthermore, it extended its fibre network by laying optical fibre and built regional switching centres in the North, East, West and Central regions. In 2013 alone, MTN Uganda plans to invest USD 70 million added to another USD 80 million spent in 2012. This investment has been mainly in expanding the network infrastructure to support the mobile subscriber growth as well as rollout new innovative products and digital solutions.

“MTN remains committed to the development of the ICT sector and the Ugandan economy. LTE becomes the new standard determining the level of technology development and offering substantially faster data speed than other technologies” says Mazen Mroué, MTN Uganda Chief Executive Officer. The rise of MTN 3G+ has given more than one million Ugandans internet access for the first time with widest network coverage, wide range of devices and affordable tariffs. The World Bank estimates that in Africa a 10 percent rise in broadband penetration is linked to a 1.3 percent increase in economic growth. In terms of network infrastructure, MTN Uganda has deployed close to 2,800km of fibre backbones achieved with multiple layers and rings to protect customer experience across all national regions and provide dedicated business solutions to SMEs and Corporate Enterprises.

MTN Uganda has over the last 6 months rolled out 81 new Base Transmission Sites to new coverage areas while commissioning another batch of capacity sites to enhance the quality of network services. MTN has a total of 1 100 sites at the end of 2012. “The continuous CAPEX investment by MTN is aimed at providing our customers with the best possible user experience across the country. We would like to ensure consistently reliable network quality for all existing customers and also to enable many more new subscribers to enjoy the Mobile Technology,” Says  Rami Farah, MTN Uganda Chief Technical Officer. Over the past couple of years MTN has also made backhaul links expansion and enhancements to the Mombasa submarine cables (EASSY and TEAMS). This has enabled connectivity with the rest of the world while providing better connectivity and high level redundancy for voice and data services.