All of UAE's inhabited areas will have 5G coverage by end 2025

Dubai: All inhabited areas of the UAE will come under 5G network coverage by end 2025, benefiting from the recent allocation of additional frequency.

“The introduction of this category of frequencies will enhance the country's position among the indicators related to the readiness of the telecom sector and provide necessary resources for international mobile communications application,” said Tariq Al-Awadi, Executive Director at Telecommunications Regulatory Authority’s Frequency Spectrum Department.

The frequencies will allow operators and device manufacturers to experiment with other capabilities provided by 5G technology compared to the previously assigned bands. These frequencies in the millimeter wave range between 24.25-27.5 GHz, and the UAE was the first in the Middle East and North Africa to allocate this range.

How different is 5G?

In addition to reducing the response time to less than 10 times the time spent in 4G, the new frequencies will allow communication between the largest possible number of devices for the highest possible period of time within this wide frequency range. The frequencies will also enable a large number of interconnected devices, allowing apps such as those for smart cities and the Internet of Things (IoT), which require thousands of devices to communicate with each other.

The second phase of the plan will start in the third-quarter of 2021, through which 1 GHz will be allocated per operator in the (25.5-27.5 GHz) range.