etisalat by e& first launched 5G Non-Standalone (NSA) commercially in 2018. With this deployment, etisalat by e& has transitioned from using a 5G radio access network on an existing 4G LTE network to a more advanced 5G network.
"We are pleased to announce our successful investment in 5G Standalone technology. This is a significant milestone as we look to deliver end-to-end 5G solutions in UAE, providing our customers with the latest digital innovations and superior experience and laying the foundation for new revenue streams," said Khalid Murshed, Chief technology & information officer at etisalat by e&.
"The 5G Standalone network will allow us to offer our customers the latest in high-speed and low-latency connectivity. Our recent collaborations have enabled us to increase the quality of our services, while creating a more reliable and cost-effective experience for our customers. We are proud to be leading the way in 5G technology and are committed to continuing our efforts to provide the best services in the industry."
The latest iteration of the 5G network will give customers access to a dependable nationwide standalone network that can support a wide range of applications including massive machine-to-machine communication solutions, real-time device-to-device networking, ultra-reliable, low-latency functionality for autonomous devices and next-generation Internet of Things (IoT) devices.
Specifically, standalone 5G technology offers additional capacity and significantly lower latency, making it essential for innovative use cases such as Industry 4.0, industrial IoT, commercial augmented and virtual reality, and large-scale digital sensing.
This commercial deployment of a comprehensive 5G Stand-Alone network is based on Service Based Architecture (SBA), including the capability of edge computing, network slicing, 3GPP SA (defining standard for 5G) guided network orchestration and service-based architecture.
