e& UAE Launches World’s First Commercial Upper 6GHz Giga-MIMO Network
This milestone positions the nation’s leadership at the forefront of 5G-Advanced while activating the foundational network architecture for the 6G era.
e& UAE announced the commercial launch of the world’s first mobile network operating on Upper 6GHz1 (U6GHz) 256TRX Giga-MIMO2 technology, marking the official transition of the advanced spectrum into live commercial service.
This milestone positions the nation’s leadership at the forefront of 5G-Advanced while activating the foundational network architecture for the 6G era.
The commercial activation directly supports the UAE’s national 6G roadmap led by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA), reinforcing the nation’s position as a global benchmark for early-stage adoption of next-generation connectivity ahead of international 6G standardisation. The launch of U6GHz, deployed directly over the existing 5.5G network, unlocks the commercial capabilities of the “Golden 6GHz Band” and strengthens e& UAE’s long-term network evolution towards IMT-2030 and 6G.
“The commercial activation of U6GHz 256TRX Giga-MIMO marks a defining milestone in e& UAE’s network evolution. 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. 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.”
– Marwan Bin Shakar, Chief Technology Officer, e& UAE
The commercial network harnesses the U6GHz spectrum range of 6425–6775 MHz, delivering up to 350 MHz of ultra-wide continuous bandwidth. This is combined with state-of-the-art 256TRX Giga-MIMO technology, substantially expanding antenna transceiving capacity per site compared to conventional 64TRX 5G deployments. The operational network delivers expanded capacity, ultra-precise dynamic beamforming, superior interference suppression, and a seamless quality of service across densely populated urban environments.
Engineered to deliver single user peak throughput of up to 10 Gbps downlink and 1 Gbps uplink, the network provides fibre-like broadband performance over the air. Its advanced beamforming capabilities also overcome the physical propagation limitations typically associated with higher frequency bands, achieving site-for-site coverage levels comparable to existing 3.5 GHz C-band infrastructure. Additionally, expanding the single cell throughput capacity exceeding 50Gbps with commercial TDD bands lays the foundation for the future services requirement.
With the live commercialisation of U6GHz 256TRX Giga-MIMO, e& UAE is actively powering the high-throughput, low-latency network layers required for cutting-edge digital ecosystems. These include AI-native network operations, immersive extended reality (XR), autonomous industrial systems and mission-critical smart-city infrastructure. Additionally, the cumulation of an end-to-end commercial deployment experience brings forth future network readiness methodology for next generation network evolution.
Through this deployment, e& UAE continues to establish an evolutionary telecommunications landscape in the UAE, expanding high-capacity mobile connectivity nationwide and reinforcing the country’s broader digital economy ambitions.
1 U6GHz — the Upper 6 GHz spectrum (3GPP band n104, 6425–7125 MHz). The e& UAE allocation is 6425–6775 MHz, offering up to 350 MHz of contiguous bandwidth
2 Giga-MIMO / 256TRX — an antenna with 256 transceivers versus 64 transceivers in standard 5G. More transceivers mean sharper, more precise beam
