Madagascar ushers in 4G era

Madagascar's telecom firm Telma on Friday has launched the country's first 4G network in a bid to improve Internet speed for mobile phone users.

With arrival of the network, Madagascar becomes the 18th country in Africa with this new technology among the continent's 54 nations, Chief Executive Officer of Telma Group Patrick Pisal- Hamida said during the launching ceremony.

The arrival of 4G in Madagascar means that users have access to internet with a speed of five to 10 times than before, Patrick said.

"With 4G technology user can download music of 3 Mb in only 16 milliseconds, a file of 25 Mb in only one second. A video of 700 Mb is downloaded in only 35 seconds from six minutes before," Patrick told Xinhua.

To promote 4G technology, Telma has prepared new wireless equipment including USB keys which can be plugged to cars to share wifi with passengers and portable modems which can share wifi to eight different people.

Madagascar currently has four mobile phone and Internet operators, including Airtel Madagascar, Orange Madagascar, Blueline gulfsat and Telma group.

Madagascar ranks 135th out of 146 countries in the world in terms of access to high technology, according to a survey published in April 2015 by the World Economic Forum. Endi