Ooredoo has achieved a milestone through its nationwide roll-out of Qatar’s first and only 4G services with the recent activation of its 500th LTE site in the country.
The 500th site that was completed and activated this week was required for a complete nationwide network, as the company surges ahead with its plan to make Qatar’s fastest-ever mobile broadband accessible for everyone.
“Activating the 500th site means that the 4G service range is now extended to cover the whole of Qatar,” Ooredoo yesterday said.
In completing the 500th site, Ooredoo now offers the first and fastest 4G service across Qatar, enabling customers to enjoy the “best-ever” mobile broadband Internet speeds, the smoothest browsing experience and the capacity to send, upload and download files, no matter how big they are.
The rise of 4G has created a spike in data usage across Qatar, as people download films, educational material and mobile apps faster than ever before. It has also delivered an improvement to customers using 3G and even 2G networks, as the migration to 4G has freed up space on the legacy networks.  
Waleed Mohamed al-Sayed, Ooredoo Qatar Chief Operating Officer said: “When we launched the trial phase of 4G back in 2012, we promised our customers that the service would be affordable, accessible and utterly innovative in the way it delivered Qatar’s fastest-ever mobile Internet. We have lived up to our promise, with the addition of the 500th tower demonstrating that we have created a truly nationwide service that is unique in Qatar.” Since its launch in April 2013, Ooredoo has expanded its 4G coverage in “record” time, increasing the number of sites fivefold and evolving the service to make it accessible on a broad range of 4G-enabled devices.
Ooredoo is continuing to launch a range of network enhancements for 4G, to improve indoor and outdoor performance and reduce service interruptions, which will roll-out throughout 2014.
Ooredoo is also working with a number of device operators, including Apple and BlackBerry, to accelerate the pace at which the most popular devices in Qatar can access 4G.
During the first phase of implementation, Ooredoo installed some 100 sites throughout Doha, including popular destinations such as The Pearl, Katara, West Bay, the Corniche, and Sealine Beach.
Ooredoo’s 4G service is available for both postpaid and prepaid customers with a range of packages, starting from just QR15 a week for Hala customers, and including Ooredoo’s new Shahry Smart Packs, which offer a bundle of minutes, SMS, mobile data and access to 4G Key for QR175 per month.
Ooredoo currently provides the only network in Qatar, offering customers access to 4G services. It is seeing particularly strong demand from small businesses looking to use 4G as the backbone for their offices’ mobile operations.
By using 4G, companies will be able to teleconference in high-definition, adding sharpness and clarity to international meetings.
The 4G network is the fastest-ever Mobile Broadband network in Qatar, supporting maximum speeds as high as 100 Mbps, and on average offering speeds that are three-to-six times faster than the previous 3G network.