UAE: First 6G test in Middle East successful, reaches record-breaking speed
e& UAE and New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabi have successfully demonstrated the first 6G Terahertz (THz) pilot in the Middle East, achieving record-breaking throughput of 145 gigabits per second (Gbps). The milestone marks a major step in the UAE’s efforts to advance intelligent, immersive, and sustainable connectivity.
The pilot highlights the potential of 6G to deliver ultra-high-capacity, low-latency links and enable transformative applications such as holographic telepresence, extended reality (XR), terabit-class backhaul, and digital twins.
Masood M. Sharif Mahmood, CEO of e& UAE, told
Khaleej Times that, in practical terms, 6G means faster-than-instant responses, near-fail-proof uptime, massive bandwidth, and networks that combine connectivity with sensing, local compute, and quantum-resistant security.
“If 5.5G is where ‘physical AI’ becomes service-ready, 6G is where the network itself becomes more intelligent, perceptive, and sovereign by design. For a country prioritising digital resilience, that combination translates directly into national-scale uptime and control,” he said.
But for e& UAE’s CEO, 6G isn’t a speed race. “It’s the architecture that keeps essential services responsive under any conditions — intelligent at the edge, sovereign in the core, and resilient end-to-end.”
He added that 6G treats satellites and high-altitude platforms as integral parts of the network, creating a “network of networks” to ensure continuity across deserts, sea lanes, and airspace, while also providing redundancy when terrestrial sites are congested or disrupted.
So, what changes with 6G?
“First, sensing is built in,” Mahmood explained. “Radios double as radar, enabling centimetre-level positioning and environment awareness … useful when robots and vehicles share public space. Second, security shifts to post-quantum methods, hardening state and critical infrastructure traffic for the long term. Third, compute moves into the fabric: cloud and edge are integrated so workloads follow the data for deterministic performance. Together, these are resilience features.”
Marwan Bin Shaker, Acting Chief Technology and Information Officer at e& UAE, said the achievement explores the transformative potential of 6G to reimagine how people, businesses, and cities connect. “Our collaboration with NYU Abu Dhabi underscores the critical role of academia–industry partnerships in shaping the future of connectivity.”
