Fibre optics unit will bid on overseas projects

Etisalat expects capital to be world's first with fibre-optic cables in every home, potentially delivering internet 100 times faster.

The Etisalat subsidiary that is rolling out the Middle East's first national fibre-optic internet system will use the experience to bid for similar contracts overseas. Tamdeed, a unit of Etisalat's services division, is responsible for bringing the system into every home and workplace in the country, all the way from digging and laying cables to rewiring villas, offices and apartment buildings. "For now, we're focused on the UAE, but we will capitalise on this experience to go outside, and also to serve Etisalat International whenever they need us," said Ahmed Darwish, the general manager of Tamdeed. "Most countries in the GCC are going for an FTTH system, but Etisalat is far ahead," he said. "Abu Dhabi will be the first capital in the world, by the third quarter of this year, to completely migrate to FTTH. A team of more than 2,000 technicians are working seven days a week installing the fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) network, in one of the country's most ambitious infrastructure modernisation projects. The network, planned to reach every home in the country by 2011, already connects to 300,000 homes and offices. Fibre-optic cables transmit information as beams of light, offering an almost unlimited capacity for data transmission, with the potential for internet speeds up to 100 times faster than systems based on copper wire. The project is part of Etisalat's role as an agent for national development, and the company does not consider notions of cost versus benefit when evaluating whether to extend optic fibre to remote or difficult-to-reach areas. "Anywhere in the UAE served by Etisalat, by 2011 we will reach all of them," Mr Darwish said. "It is part of our commitment to the country - we should serve everywhere, without looking to the economics of it." Homes connected to the network will be able to access increasingly fast internet services, alongside high-definition television and standard telephone service. While fibre has a theoretical transmission speed of up to one terabyte (1,000 gigabytes) per second, actual download speeds will be limited by the bandwidth and capacity of Etisalat's international connections. "Within the country, there is no limit," Mr Darwish said, "but most content is not in the UAE. I can guarantee your speed in the UAE, but if you are downloading from the US or Europe, you will also be dependent on the international connections." Etisalat offers a 16 megabyte-per-second internet connection to homes already reached by the FTTH system, and is expected to introduce faster offerings, as well as packages incorporating digital television, as the network expands. The company says it will soon launch a video-on-demand service over the network, letting viewers choose from thousands of films to be streamed live to their television sets. [e-mail]