The UAE has renewed the public telecommunications licences of e& and du for another 20 years, giving the country’s two main operators a long-term regulatory mandate extending to August 2046. The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority’s board approved the renewal of licences held by Emirates Telecommunications Group Company PJSC, known as e&, and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company PJSC, which operates under the du brand. The new licences took effect on August 9, 2026, and will remain valid until August 8, 2046. They replace licences issued in 2006.
The decision gives both companies greater regulatory certainty as the UAE prepares for another investment cycle covering advanced mobile networks, artificial intelligence-enabled infrastructure, international connectivity and network resilience. Telecommunications has become a core component of the country’s digital economy, supporting banking, healthcare, government services, transport, education, energy and e-commerce.
The updated licences also widen the focus beyond network speed and coverage. Operators will be required to strengthen resilience, increase backup capacity and diversify international connectivity. The conditions include geographical diversification through terrestrial systems and submarine cables, reducing single points of failure and maintaining disaster-recovery arrangements that can be tested regularly.
Requirements covering service quality, interconnection, access, national roaming and universal service will continue. The framework also places obligations on subscriber protection and safeguards intended to prevent anti-competitive practices.
The expanded resilience requirements reflect the growing economic importance of telecommunications networks. As financial transactions, public services, logistics and industrial operations increasingly depend on continuous digital connectivity, outages can have consequences well beyond traditional telephone or internet services.
TDRA Chairman Talal Belhoul said telecommunications infrastructure now underpins vital areas of the national economy. The next stage would also involve a gradual shift from conventional connected networks towards intelligent and increasingly autonomous systems in which artificial intelligence forms part of network operations.
That transformation is closely tied to the UAE’s Digital Economy Strategy. The country aims to increase the digital economy’s contribution to gross domestic product from 9.7 per cent in 2022 to 19.4 per cent over a 10-year period. Telecommunications infrastructure will be central to that expansion as cloud computing, AI services, data centres and digitally connected industries require higher-capacity and more resilient networks.
The UAE enters the new licensing period with one of the world’s highest levels of fibre connectivity. Household fibre penetration has reached 99.7 per cent, placing the country first globally for the tenth consecutive year under international industry measurements.
The regulatory extension also provides a clearer investment horizon for e& and du as telecom operators globally prepare for the evolution of 5G services and technologies expected to underpin future generations of wireless communication. Network development is increasingly moving towards greater automation, edge computing, AI-supported management and connectivity designed for machines and industrial applications as well as consumers.
TDRA Director General Majed Sultan Al Mesmar described the renewal as a strategic decision designed to establish a stable framework for the next phase of digital infrastructure development. The regulator sees communications networks evolving from connectivity platforms into infrastructure supporting broader innovation and sustainable economic growth.
The licence terms also place greater emphasis on maintaining skilled national personnel who can operate and restore telecommunications systems during exceptional circumstances. Operators will have to maintain capabilities necessary to respond to failures or disruptions affecting critical networks.
International connectivity is particularly significant because the UAE has developed into a regional centre for cloud platforms, data centres, financial technology and digital services. Greater diversity among submarine cable routes and terrestrial connections can reduce dependence on individual links and limit the effects of failures on international data traffic.
Regulatory oversight will continue throughout the 20-year period. TDRA has said it will monitor compliance with licence conditions, service quality and subscriber protections while seeking to maintain a competitive environment.
Topics
Live News