Etisalat is the national carrier for the United Arab Emirates. Their remit is to provide communications services to the 8m residents of all seven emirates of the UAE.
As a rapidly developing and modernizing country, the residents of the UAE frequently demand services beyond what their current infrastructure can supply. In 2001, Etisalat was searching for a way to provide high quality television service. As an incredibly diverse country with residents from around the world, there was demand for a very broad range of channels. Due to the rapid growth of cities, there was no existing cable TV infrastructure.
Etisalat decided on the MDS system in 2001 because it was the most practical way to distribute 300 digital TV programs direct to homes. Satellite was prohibitively expensive, DVB-T did not provide sufficient spectrum, and cable deployment was costly and slow.
We began deploying the MVDDS transmission system in Al Ain in 2002, covering an area of 60 x 60 km with 200 digital MPEG2 TV channels. The Al Ain transmission site was set up in two weeks. After a year of testing, Etisalat decided to deploy the system in Sharjah, Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Eight relay sites were also added to increase coverage areas.
The first transmission site has been operational for 8 years with no equipment failures or replacement equipment of any kind. According to Etisalat, no other wireless system they have deployed has been this reliable.
Digital Head End
Performing a Site Survey in an area where there aren't any houses...yet.
The ominidirectional transmission antenna is quite compact.
Etisalat has many very unique looking transmission sites.
