TDRA Renews Public Telecom Licenses for e& and du for 20 Years to Anchor UAE's Digital Economy
ABU DHABI — The Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA) has officially renewed the public telecommunications licenses for Emirates Telecommunications Group Company (e&) and Emirates Integrated Telecommunications Company (du) for a new 20-year term.
Issued pursuant to Federal Decree-Law on the Regulation of the Telecommunications Sector and its amendments, the renewed licenses run from August 9, 2026, through August 8, 2046, replacing the original operating licenses granted in 2006. The regulatory extension establishes a stable, long-term framework designed to catalyze sustained capital investment in digital infrastructure, next-generation networks, and sovereign artificial intelligence capabilities.
Over the past two decades, the UAE's telecommunications sector has transitioned from traditional voice and data services into a core driver of national digital transformation, smart cities, and e-government platforms. The UAE maintains its #1 global ranking in Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) penetration for the tenth consecutive year, reaching 99.7% coverage across residential properties.
"The national economy's infrastructure relies on telecommunications networks across all vital sectors—from government services, finance, health, and education to energy, transport, industry, and digital commerce," H.E. Talal Belhoul, Chairman of the TDRA, said in a statement. He emphasized that the next phase aligns directly with the UAE Digital Economy Strategy, which aims to double the digital economy's contribution to national GDP from 9.7% in 2022 to 19.4% over ten years. "We anticipate the sector will gradually transition from connected networks to intelligent, self-operating networks where artificial intelligence becomes an intrinsic component of network intelligence itself."
"This 20-year extension is a strategic decision that reflects the leadership's confidence in a sector that has proven to be a pillar of national development," H.E. Eng. Majed Sultan Al Mesmar, Director General of the TDRA, added in a statement. "Together—the Authority and licensees—we have built one of the world's most advanced and future-ready digital infrastructures. Today, we establish a long-term framework for a phase where connectivity evolves into intelligence."
H.E. Eng. Mohammad Al Ramsi, Deputy Director General for the Telecommunications Sector at TDRA, noted that the updated licenses classify telecommunications networks as Critical National Infrastructure. The new terms mandate:
Geographic Redundancy: Obligating operators to diversify international connectivity routes across multiple terrestrial cross-border systems and submarine cable networks to eliminate single points of failure.
Resilience & Disaster Recovery: Implementing mandatory, regularly tested disaster recovery mechanisms and emergency operational procedures.
National Workforce Development: Training and empowering qualified national talent to manage, operate, and restore network infrastructure under extraordinary conditions.
Consumer & Fair Market Standards: Comprehensive provisions covering network resilience, reserve capacity, quality of service (QoS), interconnection, local roaming, universal service obligations, subscriber data protection, and anti-competitive practices.
