The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has confirmed that it has issued 5G wireless spectrum to the country’s two incumbent telcos, Etisalat and Du. According to a report from The National, the pair have been allocated frequencies in the 3.3GHz-3.8GHz range. Tariq Awadhi, executive director for spectrum management at the TRA, is quoted as saying: ‘This year, Etisalat and Du have been officially allocated 100MHz each to establish a 5G network. To begin with, they have started establishing it commercially on a small scale. Currently, it is available for home broadband.’
In January this year Etisalat said it had opened the Middle East region’s first pre-commercial 5G networks at selected locations in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Both Etisalat and Du have said they plan to launch limited 5G networks as a fixed broadband alternative until the first 5G mobile devices hit the market in 2019 or 2020.
Besides the 3.3GHz-3.8GHz range, the TRA has said it is also looking at the 1427MHz-1518MHz and 24.25GHz-27.5GHz bands for 5G use, while it could also utilise spectrum above 40GHz after 2020.