• 5G performance was strongest in Middle East and weakest in Europe: Ookla

Abu Dhabi, UAE, was ranked third for the fastest 5G performance among world capitals in the first half of the year as mobile operators are rapidly expanding 5G deployments.

According to Ookla Speedtest Intelligence, Oslo, Norway, had the fastest 5G with a median download speed of 526.74Mbps, followed by Seoul, South Korea, with a median download speed of 467.84Mbps, Abu Dhabi with 421.26Mbps and Doha, Qatar, with 413.40Mbps.

South Africa had the slowest median download speed over 5G at 53.33Mbps.

5G is rapidly improving across the world and mobile network operators around the world are working hard to ensure their networks are ready with the fastest 5G speeds and the best 5G availability.

In Abu Dhabi, Etisalat was the fastest 5G provider with a median download speed of 461.07Mbps download and median upload speed of 43.33Mbps and du was second with a median download speed of 270.95Mbps and median upload speed of 26.21Mbps. Etisalat showed 32.8 per cent 5G availability and du showed 26.7 per cent 5G availability.

When it comes to cities, Seoul had the fastest 5G with a median download speed of 467.87Mbps, followed by Abu Dhabi with speeds of 421.26 Mbps, Dubai with 417.07Mbps, Doha with 413.40Mbps and Riyadh with 384.66 Mbps.

Warsaw had the slowest 5G with a median download speed of 80.18Mbps.

According to Ookla, 5G performance was strongest in the Middle East, weakest in Europe.

Abu Dhabi, Dammam, Doha, Dubai, Kuwait City and Riyadh all showed above-average 5G download speeds and 5G availability in the first half of 2021. In contrast, many European cities — Barcelona, Berlin, Madrid, Paris, Vienna and Warsaw —with below-average 5G download speeds and 5G availability.

With the power to support millions of devices at ultrafast speeds, 5G has the potential to change lives. Capturing the full benefits of this new 5G era depends on having a network capable of supporting next-generation capabilities and features.