Etisalat has emerged a leader in the widest 3G and 4G networks coverage in the UAE and now aims to have more than 7,500 base stations by year end, said a senior company official.

The UAE telecom services operator upgraded its network in 2013 to provide the best indoor coverage in the country by increasing the number of indoor base stations to 6,000. The current 3G network covers 99.8 per cent of the country.

"Etisalat always strives to provide the highest level of service enabling customers to utilize all services over the network. Recent studies conducted by Etisalat indicate that more than 65 per cent of mobile calls are made within buildings and premises," remarked Saeed Al Zarouni, the senior VP Business Planning and Technology Evolution.

“Therefore we have continuously enhanced indoor coverage despite the fact that we already lead in providing best indoor coverage with high quality service and download speeds," said Zarouni, citing the recent TRA report.

"Etisalat is working to increase the number of base stations over 7,500 by the end of the year with an aim to provide best telecom services in the country," he added.

According to him, Etisalat provides optimum customer experience in indoor areas and continuously invests to provide optimum speeds in outdoor as well as indoor coverage to ensure subscribers get optimum service.

Currently the widest coverage of outdoor as well as indoor for all services, voice, high speed data including LTE is provided by Etisalat.

In addition to the widest network in the country, Etisalat also rolled out the region’s first 4G LTE network covering 85 per cent of populated area providing high speed data transfer rates of 150 Mbps.

Keeping in line with its long term objectives of investing in next generation technologies, Etisalat conducted testing in 4G networks reaching speeds of 300 mbps.

Additionally, it successfully upgraded its 3G network with speeds touching 84Mbps from the previous 42Mbps providing the best quality voice and data transmission in UAE.

With investment in infrastructure, Etisalat has also played a national role in the development of the telecom sector in the country.

As a first this year, Etisalat started the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) project in the first quarter and completed its successful demonstration besides eSRVCC (enhanced Single Radio Call Continuity) testing in Abu Dhabi, said  Zarouni.

This is the first of its kind in Mena region that will enable Etisalat to provide more services to its customers through 4G LTE network, he added.-TradeArabia News Service