Comments
Abu Dhabi is now the first capital city in the world to be entirely covered with a fibre optic network, the UAE telecom giant Etisalat has announced.
The completion of this project has contributed to the UAE being ranked among the top five countries in the Arab world in the Network Readiness Index (NRI) and ranked 24th in the world, according to the Global Information Technology Report 2011 issued by the World Economic Forum, outperforming many countries, an Etisalat statement said.
Fibre optic networks offer revolutionary services and solutions which can meet subscribers’ needs for decades to come.
The Etisalat Chairman, Mohammed Omran, said this milestone has put the country at the forefront of global telecommunications.
“We are proud to announce Abu Dhabi as the first capital city in the world that is entirely connected to the fibre optic network.”
The Etisalat Acting CEO, Mr Nasser Bin Obood, said the network is expected to have an impact in all sectors.
“Our significant investment in this network, which amounts to approximately 6 billion dirhams, may have somehow impacted the net profit of the corporation in the recent past, but we are confident that this short-term impact will prove to be beneficial for many in decades to come.
“It is an investment that directly impacts the country’s position and its network readiness, supporting the government’s guidelines in enhancing and harnessing e-government tools and information automation,” Mr Bin Obood said.
He said the number of houses connected to the network (Home Pass) has reached 1,125,247, from which 722,582 houses are ready to use the network (Home Ready), whereas 429,801 are activated homes (Activated ONT).
The total length of the fibre optic network that Etisalat currently deploys all over the UAE equates to five times the distance between the earth and the moon, consisting of a total of 2.8 million km of cable being deployed all over the country.
It is expected that Etisalat will complete the deployment of this project all over the country in 2011, to make the UAE the first country that is entirely covered with a fibre optic network in the world.
Comments
COMMENT NOW
Comments
Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.
We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of TheHindu Businessline and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.