LTE MENA Celebrates LTE Growth and Looks Towards Advanced Technologies

Dubai, UAE, 30 March 2015 – This year’s LTE MENA (11-13 May 2015) will bring together the entire regional LTE ecosystem, including the developed and emerging markets, to celebrate MENA’s significant LTE growth over the last 12 months and to explore advanced technologies including SDN, NFV, 5G and LTE-A. With an emphasis on digital innovation and integrating technology to improve the daily lives of subscribers, which is particularly pertinent to future Smart City and host city Dubai, LTE MENA looks set to be the most exciting event yet.

MENA is an extremely diverse region of 23 countries made up of leading innovators driving the mobile broadband market, and emerging players beginning to harness the potential of LTE to generate revenues from new services. Leading operators, such as Etisalat and du, are working towards increased network capacity as they steer towards LTE-A, VoLTE, Carrier-aggregation, WiFi and 5G, while the emerging markets enjoy successful LTE rollouts and expansions.

As a future Smart City, Dubai provides the perfect location for LTE MENA. Major regional operator, du has been selected as the Official Smart City WiFi Provider in Dubai, successfully expanding its WiFi network to major landmarks in the UAE. Ayman Elnashar, the Senior Director for Wireless Broadband, Terminals & Performance Operations at du, will join the conference to discuss du’s WiFi rollout. He said: “LTE is increasing exponentially in MENA so the next major evolution of LTE is the introduction of VoLTE with eSRVCC to maintain the user experience. LTE MENA is the only venue in the MENA region that is dedicated to LTE and therefore it’s the right forum to discuss all LTE relevant topics and also the evolution to LTE-A including CA, HetNet, eICIC, CoMP and eMBMS.”

Now in its 5th year, LTE MENA will comprise of four tracks over two days – LTE Strategy, Network Optimisation, LTE Globalization and the Future of LTE – and will include a case study driven agenda that operators in MENA can learn from. This will include technical case studies from regional and global operators, including du, Etisalat, Smile Communications Group, Bakcell, Uganda Telecom Limited and AT&T.

Following previous success the 3rd Annual Signaling Focus Day will return to MENA for an in-depth analysis of the signaling challenges affecting the region. Case studies from both operators and leading solution providers will form the basis of the day’s discussions, giving practical advice on how to optimize signaling in networks and maximise quality of experience for subscribers. This is free to attend for operators and is a must for technical experts looking to build more robust networks that can handle the large data growth the region is experiencing.

The programme agenda boasts a stellar line-up of CxO and VP-level visionary speakers, including: Enrique Blanco, CTO, Telefónica Group; Robert Joyce, Director – Radio Access Technology, Ooredoo Group; Zarra Khan, Chief Technology Officer, Viva, Kuwait; Alaa Zaher, Head of Strategy & Innovation, Vodafone, Egypt; Marc Zirka, Head of Corporate Strategy, Bakcell, Azerbaijan; and Faizan Khan Group, VP for Roaming, Etisalat Group. A full speaker list can be accessed by using this link: http://mena.lteconference.com/speakers/.

Alongside the event’s strong speaker line-up, LTE MENA will provide additional opportunities to delegates, including executive speed networking sessions and roundtables, which are a great opportunity for visitors looking for exclusive face time with the region’s thought leaders.