UAE launches national 6G plan to prepare for next network cycle

TDRA forms national committee to coordinate UAE’s research, standards and 6G planning

Last updated:
2 MIN READ
Supplied
Supplied

Dubai: The UAE has launched a national 6G Initiative through the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority. The move was announced at the first meeting of the 6G Committee, which includes federal and local entities, telecom operators, universities, research centres and global technology firms.

Eng Mohammed Al Ramsi, Deputy Director General of the Telecommunications Sector at TDRA, said the initiative continues the UAE’s policy of moving early on network transitions.

“Today, we celebrate coverage exceeding 99.5% of populated areas, with more than 23,000 5G sites serving over 10 million subscribers,” he said. “These achievements pave the way for a new phase in which we work with our partners to develop a national 6G roadmap that will revolutionise connectivity by integrating digital and cognitive worlds, leveraging artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and satellite networks to enable the applications of the future.”

Al Ramsi added that the shift to 6G is “not merely a technical evolution, but a strategic step toward building a sustainable knowledge-based economy founded on innovation, artificial intelligence, and the integration of digital infrastructure across all sectors.”

Technical priorities

The committee will coordinate national work on research programmes, standards development, spectrum planning and regulatory preparation for 6G networks. It will also support the adoption of emerging technologies in key sectors.

Two subcommittees have been created. Dr Marwan Dabbah of Khalifa University will lead the Research and Development Working Group. Dr Khaled Al Awadhi of TDRA will head the Integration and Strategic Partnerships Working Group.

The 6G Committee will operate as a national platform to align research, regulation and deployment planning. It marks the UAE’s efforts to prepare for the post-5G era and consolidate its position in advanced communications.

Nivetha Dayanand is Assistant Business Editor at Gulf News, covering aviation, financial markets and commodities. A business and financial journalist with a strong interest in multimedia storytelling, she regularly takes complex financial and economic subjects beyond the written word, producing explainer videos that make them easier for a wider audience to understand. Nivetha has interviewed senior policymakers, business leaders and global financial figures both on and off camera. Her past guests include UAE Minister of Economy and Tourism Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri, Khaled bin Alwaleed Al Saud, a member of the House of Saud and the founder and CEO of KBW Ventures, Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund and Indian ministers Hardeep Singh Puri and N. Chandrababu Naidu. She has also hosted and moderated panels, conferences and awards shows, bringing her newsroom experience to live conversations on business, finance and the economy. An Erasmus Mundus journalism alum, Nivetha is drawn to stories that affect people directly and to reporting that gives a platform to voices that might otherwise go unheard. She was among the first journalists to speak to Petrofac employees in the UAE about unpaid salaries, broke the news of the planned demolition of Dubai’s well-known “Toyota Building”, and helped set the record straight on widely circulated claims that a giant replica of the Moon was coming to Dubai. More recently, her exclusive interview with EDGE Group CEO Hamad Al Marar revealed how the UAE-based defence group deployed its systems along the country’s shore border and established a geofence around the UAE within 48 hours of the February 28 escalation. Prior to joining Gulf News, Nivetha worked at ITP Media, where she helped launch Finance Middle East, a new publication covering the region’s financial sector. Her role spanned reporting and editing, video production, interviews and events. Across print, digital, and video, she focuses on finding the people behind business stories and explaining why those stories matter to the audience reading or watching them.

Sign up for the Daily Briefing

Get the latest news and updates straight to your inbox