UAE expects 26GHz 5G launch this year

The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is expecting the country to be the first market in the Middle East to begin using higher frequency mmWave spectrum for 5G services. A report from TechRadar cites Tareq Al Awadi, executive director of spectrum management at the TRA, as saying: ‘Our goal is to allocate 26GHz this year, mainly for Dubai Expo 2020, as the system is available’. The Dubai Expo 2020 event begins in October this year. The UAE’s two cellcos – Etisalat and Du – currently offer 5G services using 3.5GHz frequencies.