MTN Nigeria Announces 3.5G
by Olusola Oyewola2008-02-09 12:43:55 | Viewed 1046 times
Without doubt, MTN Nigeria has been able to leave up to the expectation of leading the telecommunication industry in the country and this is reflected in its showcasing of innovatory services, despite the fact that some parts of the country still experience erratic services especially at night when the traffic is expected to be heavy and many of our rural areas are yet to be connected to any of the mobile telecommunication networks.
And again, the Yhello people has been able to demonstrate that it is the network that trustily moves the mobile telecommunication sector in the country ahead… and it has proved this by its recent pronouncement of 3.5G telephony. It is not surprising that the company is the first to initiate this development bearing in mind that they have showcased similar innovatory services in the past. It should be recalled that this mobile service provider is the first to roll-out GSM services some six years back and the company has been able to pioneer the following services in the country; the first to kick start a second code number, 0703, the first to offer commercial BlackBerry services tagged BlackBerry from MTN. And the innovation of the season is the 3.5G technology that is going to kick-off very soon as promised by the company.
The 3.5G is simply a term used to describe the Third Generation telephony which is a technology that facilitates faster data downloads and stunning video streaming services. The technology promises to offer the much more awaited video calls and broadband internet services amidst other features.
The video call service is a feature that enables callers to view each other from their mobile devices that support such services during phone conversation irrespective of their distance but must however be within the coverage of such service and therefore with the 3.5G subscribers to MTN network will be able to view their callers live during the course of communication.
The other major feature of the 3.5G, the broadband internet, is quite interesting and it is the next evolution of 2.5G GSM for mobile broadband currently available to mobile phones. It offers the network users with unlimited access to internet connection through their mobile devices as long as they remain within the network coverage and this can be synchronized to PC thereby allowing users to have access to the internet service via their mobile devices.
However, the 3.5G is not the same as BlackBerry from MTN; these two are quite distinct and should not be confused for one another. Simply put BlackBerry from MTN is a service that brings together Smartphone and software to provide its intending users with access to important services such as email, voice calls (including Voice over the Internet Protocol), calendar with record keeping and other related applications while they are on the go away from their offices/businesses. On the other hand, the 3.5G allows connectivity to mobile services to be faster and easier to navigate.
MTN promises that the 3.5G would offer its customers more empowered features than the current MTN Loaded that allows for sharing of pictures and sounds, and that connectivity to mobile websites through its GPRS service would be facilitated and therefore enhances functionality of the MTN Loaded Portal and as a result allowing for much more faster download speeds.
In order to be able to use enjoy this exciting services, users must possess a 3.5G phone, a USB modem or a data card, however the company is considering offering the 3.5G mobile device alongside with the service when it fully roles out.
Other interesting benefits of this generation of telecommunication include the ability to share internet access with one or two other users with an MTN wireless router, many more applications that are speed and video related, the co-existence of 2.5 and 3.5G which implies that user will be able to use GPRS temporarily if out of 3.5G coverage.
And for those on roaming plan, the good news is that they can enjoy 3.5G voice and data on any of several 3G networks abroad with which MTN has roaming agreement.
In the meantime, MTN needs to improve on its erratic service it currently offers if it must succeed with its offer of 3.5G and perhaps the 3.5G would engineer the correct network Nigerians have so much yearned for- a network where what you garbage- in is garbage-out.
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