Etisalat UAE taps Huawei and Ericsson for 5G rollout

Etisalat has awarded contracts to both Huawei and Ericsson for the rollout of its 5G mobile network in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The telco plans to deploy 300 5G-enabled base station sites in the first half of 2019, with 600 to be active by the end of the year. Rival operator Du recently announced plans to roll out 700 5G base stations by end-2019 with both telcos looking to launch commercial services this year ahead of the mass-market introduction of 5G-capable handsets.