Zain Bahrain posts record with Middle East’s first LTE call at 70Mbps

Zain Bahrain has showcased the region’s first LTE call, setting new standards for the telecoms sector by achieving a download data speed of 70 Mbps in a trial to demonstrate its LTE readiness, just six months after announcing the Middle East’s first LTE contract with Nokia Siemens Networks.
Achieving a minimum latency of 15 milliseconds – the smallest ever in any public LTE call – the live call was used to highlight applications such as multi-video streaming, high-resolution video conferencing, voice over LTE, and LTE terminal mobility within an office environment.
“Setting standards and raising the bar on excellence have always been a Zain Bahrain prerogative,” said Mohammed Zainalabedin, general manager, Zain Bahrain. “This first ever live call is a taste of the excellence our customers can expect when our entire network upgrade is unveiled by the end of this year.”
When completed, Zain Bahrain’s LTE network will serve as a showcase for all of Zain Group’s operations across the Middle East and Africa.
Even before LTE comes on line, Zain Bahrain customers will find a dramatic improvement in accessing the Internet with speeds of up to 14 Mbps with I-HSPA.
Zain provides mobile voice and data services to 69.5 mln customers and is the third largest mobile operator in the world with a commercial presence in 24 countries.