4G at last

Namibia became the second country in Africa to commercially launch the fourth generation (4GLTE) technology on Wednesday this week. The technology is being made available in the country by the  Mobile Telecommunications Company (MTC).
The 4G LTE is the new mobile communication generation that has revolutionised the 3G with distinctive features such as better coverage, faster speed, less latency and better network quality.
The fourth generation network is based on long term evolution (LTE) and allows internet access in mobility with download speeds of up to 100Megabits, making it 10 times faster than the previous generation.
Miguel Geraldes, managing director of MTC, said: “Customers will definitely have a much better experience in 4G as the speed will be tremendously faster and there will be no latency, when you click the button, you no longer have to wait to get a response from the network as this will now be instant which is significant for business.”
Comparative demonstrations between 3G and 4G upload and download speeds were also conducted, revealing speed availability of 100 Megabits per second (download) and 50 Megabits per second (upload) compared with the current 3G HSDPA where the speed is up to 7.2/1.8 Megabits per second. Although MTC has an ambitious goal to cover 45% of the current Namibian population with 4G LTE in the next 12 months, including part of the rural areas, the 4G is currently only available on contract and is only available at certain sites in Windhoek such as at Rocky Crest, the central business district, Polytechnic of Namibia and Klein Windhoek.
Geraldes said that the 4G LTE with the tremendous Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM) 40G technology deployed in more than one thousand kilometers of optic fibre, complete with the latest technology from the West African Cable system – an undersea cable in which MTC has partnered with a consortium of international investors – provides the company with a competitive advantage as far as information and communication technology in Africa is concerned.
Also at the official launch of the 4G, Prime Minister, Nahas Angula congratulated MTC on this milestone.