- UAE leads on 5G performances globally with a median download speed of 557.63 Mbps, with South Korea placing second at 501.56 Mbps and Qatar with 465.62 Mbps.
- e&’s Wi-Fi recordes the lowest latency across all access types while du’s Wi-Fi latency lagged behind its mobile network latency performance.
Etisalat by e& was the fastest 5G operator within the UAE and globally on 5G, with a median download speed of 680.73 Mbps during the second quarter of this year, ahead of du’s 453.93 Mbps.
According to, 5G performance between the two mobile operators remained similar throughout 2022, peaking in time to support Dubai Expo 2020.
Etisalat by e& currently operating in 16 countries across Asia, the Middle East and Africa and is the 18th largest mobile network operator in the world by number of subscribers while du operates only in the UAE.
“Both operators increased speeds through the fourth quarter of last year and in the first quarter of this year, helping drive overall 5G performance in the UAE to reach 557.63 Mbps, but du’s performance declined in the second quarter of this year, with etisalat by e& extending its 5G performance lead to 226.80 Mbps,” Mark Giles, Lead Industry Analyst at Ookla, said.
Moreover, users accessing both etisalat by e&’s and du’s 5G networks experienced median gaming latency of 43 milliseconds and 57 milliseconds respectively, lower than those recorded across 4G LTE. 5G users also experienced improved video start times and experienced less buffering when streaming video compared to those on either 4G LTE or Wi-Fi.
Increased competition
Speedtest Intelligence data showed that etisalat by e& led on median 5G upload speed in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah. However there was no statistically significant difference between it and du in Al Ain and Ajman.
Giles said that 5G users in the market are more likely to recommend the nation’s networks when compared to 4G, with etisalat by e& leading the market with a score of 64.7 in the second quarter, and du following with 46.7.
Both the telecom operators launched commercially available 5G services across the Emirate in the second quarter of 2019, following the allocation of spectrum for 5G use by UAE regulator, the TDRA (Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority).
However, 2022 saw growth return to the market with etisalat by e&’s UAE mobile revenues increasing by six per cent to reach Dh11.41 million, while du’s mobile revenues grew by 8.4 per cent to reach Dh5.75 billion.
“For the nation’s mobile network operators, this return to growth is driving increased competition as both operators seek to demonstrate network leadership, convert prepaid users to postpaid, while also focusing on driving enhanced customer experiences and offering new digital services,” Giles said.
Both mobile network operators are prioritising the growth of their postpaid customer bases. For example, subscribers of either operator can choose plans that allow them to pick and choose additional services with a strong focus on entertainment options, such as video streaming services, live sports, and mobile gaming, among others.
Drilling down into the city-level data, and looking at performance for the lowest 10 per cent of samples, reveals some potential improvement points for both operators, Giles said.
Enterprise verticals
For the city of Ajman, etisalat by e& has recorded a significant improvement in the lower 10th percentile of 5G samples, increasing from 9.76 Mbps in January to 93.67 Mbps in June.
However despite the increase, its performance in Ajman remains below that recorded in other UAE cities.
Du on the other hand has returned more stable 5G performance among the lower 10 per cent of samples in the city over the past six months, but is seeing performance decline, from 138.33 Mbps in January to 50.85 Mbps in June.
Accordsing to datya.ai’s State of Mena 2022 report, consumers in the UAE spent on average 4.7 hours per day playing mobile games during 2021, the most of all MENA markets.
“Usage continues to grow, fueled by a young and tech-savvy population with high disposable income. 5G offers the potential for lower latency than previous generations of mobile technology, which alongside higher throughput, enables improved experiences for both consumer and enterprise use cases that rely on a high level of network responsiveness,” Giles said.
Moreover, he said that Wi-Fi performance differed between the operators, with etisalat by e&’s Wi-Fi recording the lowest latency across all access types, while du’s Wi-Fi latency lagged behind its mobile network latency performance.
Giles said that both operators in the UAE are in prime position to capitalise on their 5G network investment to date, which is already helping drive improved consumer experiences on their networks.
“They are also poised to take advantage of the deployment of 5G standalone networks in the market, offering further performance gains, but also opening up opportunities to target services for key enterprise verticals that among other things often demand highly reliability, as well as low latency communications.”
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