Alfa launching LTE-A ‘soon’

Alfa – one of Lebanon’s two mobile network operators with approximately 48% of subscribers – has revealed plans to introduce ‘4.5G’ LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) high speed mobile broadband services in the near future. Marwan Hayek, general manager of Alfa – which launched LTE services in May 2013 alongside rival Touch Lebanon – announced the news that the company is ‘a few steps away from 4.5G technology’ at a recent event. As quoted by news site Zawya, Hayek disclosed: ‘The company will soon conduct tests on LTE-Advanced technology with an internet speed of 350Mbps.’ He also noted that Alfa’s mobile data subscribers (now mostly 3G and 4G) have reached 1.2 million, or over 60% of its total user base.