Econet Wireless Zimbabwe (EWZ), the country’s biggest mobile network service provider has been listed on Apple’s website as a Certified LTE Partner, a very powerful recognition considering the tech supremacy commanded by the Apple brand as the world’s leading smart device vendor.
Long Term Evolution (LTE) is currently the world’s ultrafast broadband technology which provides fast connectivity to all the latest smart devices at blazing-fast speeds. Riding on their latest certification, Econet’s LTE allows you to browse the web, stream content, or download a movie at very fierce speeds.
The screen-shot from Apple’s website shows that Econet is the only Apple LTE Partner in Zimbabwe
To checkout a list of carriers that have received certification of their LTE network on iPhone,you can visit Apple’s official website www.apple.com. When you scroll down, you will surely find out that Econet is the only listed Apple LTE partner in Zimbabwe, leaving a lot to be desired on the absence of other operators who claim to have LTE services on their network.
Depending on the spectrum available, live LTE networks can deliver very fast data speeds of up to 100Mbps in the down-link and 50Mbps in the uplink.
LTE networks are designed to be backward-compatible with GSM and HSPA. They incorporate Multiple In Multiple Out (MIMO) technology, the Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) air interface in the downlink and Single Carrier FDMA in the uplink.
The Long Term Evolution networks encompasses all the next generation networks
This combination provides high levels of spectral efficiency and network performance, coupled with high network capacity and low latency. Remember latency is the total time taken to route a data packet as it traverses over inter-networking devices along its way to the destination.
LTE will support spectrum channel bandwidths from 1.4 MHz to 20 MHz and can operate in both paired spectrum (in FDD mode) and unpaired spectrum (in TDD mode).
With their LTE Certification, Econet Wireless Zimbabwe has launched the Smart Data Network Campaign aimed to promote internet usage and enhance customer experience.
They have even went on to utilize their bragging rights by launching the Econet Speed Challenge where their subscribers can use speed testers like Ookla to determine the throughput being ushered into their devices from Econet’s LTE, 3G and 2G base stations.
Econet chief executive officer, Douglas Mboweni told journalists late last year during the Econet Expo at Meikles Hotel that they continue to cater for the customer’s needs.
“Broadband has become a significant revenue for the business but our objective at all times has been around the customer. So we constantly watch that the customer needs and we rearrange ourselves to make sure that those needs are satisfied.
“Now what have we put in place to make sure that the customer needs are satisfied number one is the network, and that is why we have invested so much in the network, your 3G your 4G and ad we continue to do so,” he said.
He added, “We are saying to the user, the infrastructure is now in place, for you to use the applications, your usage requirements, we as a network have understood your requirements and have put together, pieces that are required to drive those requirements in a convenient seamless manner.”
The battle for relevance continues………….
