Doha
Vodafone has completed the upgrade of its cell sites in Al Wakrah and Al Wukair as part of the company’s network enhancement across Qatar.
The upgrade covered 30 sites in Al Wakrah and Al Wukair uplifting both areas’ 3G capacity by around three times and 4G capacity by around four times. Vodafone also added 13 new 4G LTE sites to Al Wakrah, covering 43% more of the area to provide “better LTE and data coverage.”
Also, Vodafone also expanded 15 sites with HSDPA Dual Carrier uplifting existing 3G speeds up to 43.2 Mbps. The company also announced that all 4G sites in Al Wakrah and Al Wukair have been uplifted to 4G+ capacity.
Vodafone Qatar chief technology officer Ramy Boctor said the initiative is part of the company’s network upgrade programme, which was launched in January 2015 to offer customers “superfast” voice and data services.
“This is the next big step in our network evolution journey, which is set to be completed by October 2015. It offers our customers one of the most modern, state-of-the-art infrastructures in the world. This strongly reiterates our position as a leader in technology and innovation and our steadfast commitment to provide reliable and fast data and voice services to everyone living and working in Qatar,” Boctor said.
He added: “Very recently, Vodafone Qatar became one of the first telecom operators in the world to have the top speed of up to 375 Mbps live on its network, which provides almost four times the speeds of original 4G speeds.”
According to Boctor, this was completed after Vodafone tested and rolled out three band LTE Carrier Aggregation across its sites in Doha Corniche and the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) with other additional sites across Doha to be ready by November 2015.
Following the launch of its 4G+ network in May 2015 and a nationwide network enhancement initiative with an investment of more than QR500mn, Vodafone achieved increased 3G and 4G coverage and capacity, which produced a significantly better customer experience in both voice and data services.
In April this year, Vodafone concluded the first phase of its network evolution by upgrading every network site in Doha with the latest state-of-the-art technology, which means 65% of its network is brand new.
In addition, the company installed 134 new outdoor sites, 42 indoor sites, 290 4G outdoor sites, and 25 4G indoor sites. This has increased Vodafone’s 3G and 4G coverage, doubled 3G capacity, tripled 4G capacity, and tripled its data capacity for “better user experience.”
In July 2015, Vodafone began the second phase of the network evolution, which will see the same improvements achieved earlier in Doha to spread across the entire nation such as Al Wakrah, Al Wukair, and other areas. At the end of the programme on October 2015, Vodafone will have overhauled its entire network to offer better network experience in the whole country, Boctor said.
Vodafone Qatar chief technology officer Ramy Boctor
