The Middle East telecommunications operator Etisalat has chosen Alcatel-Lucent to enlarge its LTE coverage in the United Arab Emirates, addressing the increasing demand for high-speed mobile broadband fueled by video, gaming and other high-bandwidth applications, LteWorld reports.

The expanded network is expected to pave the way for the introduction of advanced cloud services and evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (eMBMS) in 2014. It will also support Etisalat’s Smart City and Expo2020 initiatives.

Etisalat is deploying Alcatel-Lucent’s LTE solution to significantly expand its LTE services throughout the UAE. It also will upgrade the existing 3G/2G infrastructure for future LTE service. With Alcatel-Lucent’s technology, it plans to cover 99 percent of the country’s populated areas with the LTE network by 2015 -- including buildings, shopping malls, stadiums, airports and other densely populated areas.