Etisalat today announced that traffic from its UAE operation has grown 300 per cent since 2008 surpassing the 100 Gigabit per second (Gbps) mark earlier this year. "This reflects the country's surging Internet community who are constantly connected via a plethora of devices at the office, in the home and on the move. It also reflects increasing usage amongst business customers who are becoming more reliant on advanced technologies to manage regional offices from the UAE," the company said in a statement Ali Amiri, Executive Vice President Carrier & Wholesale for Etisalat UAE said: "The UAE is witnessing exceptionally high growth in terms of Internet usage. High-bandwidth applications, and in particular social networking, video and businesses, are driving consumption. We expect this trend to grow further with new innovations such as Cloud Computing, mobile health, finance and education catalyzing future demand. As the UAE economy continues to expand and businesses of all sizes are encouraged to establish regional headquarters in the UAE, we are confident that this trend will continue and potentially become even more acute." Etisalat has partnered with other major operator groups to deploy intercontinental cable across the Middle East. "This means Etisalat has sufficient capacity to meet the requirements of its customers today and in the future. This includes both the UAE, and also our international customers in terms of our 17 sister companies under the Etisalat Group and other operator groups, ISPs, Mobile Operators and telecoms service providers," he added. Etisalat UAE is in the process of rolling out over 2 million kilometers of fiber optic cable - more than enough to stretch to the moon five times. It will also launch LTE in 2011, which will eventually provide speeds of up to 150Mbps across enabled mobile devices. It was also one of the first five operators worldwide to offer 3DTV in 2010 and has been named best Broadband provider in the Middle East in numerous reports, conferences and ceremonies. Etisalat's Smart Hub provides a variety of services to mobile operators, ISPs, telecom companies and content providers offering access to a market of over two billion people. Amongst its world-class portfolio is its highly reliable and robust data centre and hosting solution which enables 24/7, 365-days a year Internet connectivity via a number of major cable systems passing East and West. Leading content providers and developers from around the world now host their data locally in the UAE marking Etisalat as the defacto Internet hub for the Middle East.