Ghana’s leading telecom operator MTN Ghana is feverishly preparing its customers for the launch of its 4G LTE services in June this year.

The telecom giant, ahead of the launch is swapping SIM cards of customers to meet the requirements of the 4G LTE services.

The introduction of 4G LTE will mean a much improved and faster data service for Ghanaians. MTN, which has the largest market share of telecom subscribers, has assured. The company insists its current data rates will still apply to the service.

MTN got its 4G 800MHz FDD spectrum license in December last year and promised a commercial launchof the spectrum in six months.

Itbought the 2x10MHz spectrum with the 800MHz for US$67.5million and finished paying in January this year. The company has so far earmarked an additional US$18million to specifically deploy the service across the country.

4G LTE has huge advantages to the subscribers over 3G. 4G LTE is 5 to 10 times faster than 3G which "means faster internet download and upload speeds. Overall, the data experience of MTN subscribers is improved significantly.”

The telecoms giant has deployed LTE in all Regional capitals of Ghana ahead of the commercial launch. Currently, there are 290 LTE sites across all regions and key mining towns and rollout is ongoing to extend the LTE reach.

MTN in its quest to make the SIM swap convenient and less stressful to customers has visited a number of businesses to change their sim cards.

They recently visited The Multimedia Group where subscribers were given the opportunity to swap their sim for free.

Several employees of company had their devices tested to see if they were 4G LTE compatible. Those whose devices met the Band 20 (800MHz) had their SIMs swapped for them.

Personnel from MTN urged customers to check their device compatibility by dialling the short code *585#.