Etisalat deploys first regional pre-commercial 5G

Abu Dhabi / WAM

Etisalat on Sunday announced the successful launch of the first 5G Ultra-Mobile broadband experience in the region. A pre-commercial 5G network has been deployed in certain locations within the UAE including Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
State-of-the-art 5G services have been demonstrated using an advanced 5G based drone that is equipped with 360 degree virtual reality, VR, camera with 4K streaming experience in live environment achieving up to 5Gbps in downlink and 2Gbps in uplink with extremely low latency and massive IoT connections.
“I am glad to announce this successful launch of pre-commercial 5G services in UAE in alignment with the government’s vision to maintain our top ranking worldwide. Etisalat is always committed to provide state-of-the-art technologies and services in UAE. In addition to the 5G and smart city strategies, we will continue our digital transformation journey by further developing new capabilities including Artificial intelligence (AI), cloud computing, network virtualisation and automation, Internet of Things (IoT). By leveraging on our capabilities, Etisalat is able to deliver more agile and innovative services in a timely manner to the market,” said Saleh Al Abdooli, Etisalat Group CEO.
The new radio, NR, 5G sites are operating in the semi-globally harmonised C-band (3.3 – 3.8GHz) with advanced 5G technologies and features including Massive MIMO Active Antenna systems with high number of data streams and beamforming capabilities. Etisalat will continue the development and deployment of 5G network with targets to offer 5G consumer and business services with extremely high speeds, low latency and
massive machine connections.
In a statement, Etisalat confirmed its commitment towards deployment of 5G services in major UAE cities during 2018 in preparation for the major planned events during 2018-2020 including the World Government Summit, AFC Asian CUP, ITU PP-18, and Expo 2020 Dubai in the Emirates.