UAE telecoms group e& has said that it has launched the world’s first mobile network operating on Upper 6GHz1 (U6GHz), in a major leap forward in developing 6G technology.
e& described it as "accelerating the nation's transition to the 6G era", and chief technology officer Marwan Bin Shakar called the network launch a milestone.
"We have moved from technical validation to a live commercial reality that significantly elevates the 5G-advanced experience for our customers today, while operationalising the native architecture needed for 6G," he said.
Sixth-generation cellular technology, or 6G, will offer faster speeds and data transfers for users of smartphones, tablets, laptops and other devices.
Though e&'s announcement doesn't mean that 6G cellular technology has officially arrived, the UAE telecoms company's U6GHz mobile network makes use of several innovations that "elevate the 5G-advanced experience" and pave the way for it to become standard.
According to e&'s news release, engineers utilised "advanced beamforming capabilities" to overcome limitations on existing 5G networks. e& also said that it was able to make use of "superior interference suppression" to ensure quality service in densely populated areas.
"This achievement directly underpins the UAE’s vision to remain the world's most advanced digital hub, supported by world-class infrastructure and next-generation connectivity," Mr Bin Shakar explained.
The announcement is the latest in a series of developments in the UAE related to the eventual adoption of 6G cellular technology. Last month, the UAE telecoms company du and Khalifa University announced recent field trials for 6G, which they said validated the country's push to be a hub for innovation in the technology.
During testing conducted on “live macro infrastructure” in Mohamed bin Zayed City, Abu Dhabi, outdoor coverage of up to 500 metres and peak downlink speeds approaching 1.5 gigabits per second were achieved, a paper published by du and the university said.
In 2024, the UAE's Telecommunications and Digital Regulatory Authority announced plans to allocate 600MHz and 6GHz bands, a move that helped to accelerate the development of 6G services in the Arab world's second-largest economy.
Samsung, one of the world's largest manufacturers of smartphones, has predicted widespread adoption of 6G networks by 2030, with “completion of standards and early commercialisation by 2028".
New generations of wireless technology tend to emerge about every decade. Research into 6G technology began in 2020 and field tests are viewed as crucial for making the technology a reality.
