Etisalat UAE Blazes a Trail with the Launch of 5G Slicing

Birender Singh

Birender Singh

Etisalat UAE, the telecom arm of e&, has successfully deployed the 5G slicing technology in association with telecoms equipment major Huawei Technologies Ltd. Slicing, the latest and exciting technology in the telecoms industry, offers reliable connections that help both customers and service providers.

Slicing is divvying up the available infra into different parts to cater to different users’ diverse needs in the same enterprise. For example, suppose there is a requirement for a particular department for a faster connection with reduced latency (lag). In that case, the operator can dedicate specific bandwidths to groups using the same network. The new technology reduces the chances of network failure and creates networks that allow controlled sharing of resources of the same network. Slicing works best in dedicated 5G standalone networks.

Etisalat, which already provides the fastest internet connection in the world at 190 MBPS+, says slicing will reduce latency and improve speeds.

Khalid Murshed, Chief Technology, and Information Officer Etisalat UAE said that slicing would help provide dedicated services to corporates that will trigger innovation and help organizations realize their full potential.

Huawei has provided Etisalat with a unique E2E (end-to-end) converged approach with a simple solution that also reduces operational costs. It is loaded with innovative applications and use cases.

A Huawei official said that the telco would help Etisalat bring its customers the best in smart connectivity and digital solutions.

Network slicing is hailed as the most important innovation in the 5G sphere. Slicing offers technological options and solutions that were not available till now.

For example, in a car, a slice of the 5G technology can be utilized to feed real-time data on the condition of the road to the vehicle and the driver. At the same time, another slice can be used to stream advertisements and other data onto the vehicle’s display system. While the infrastructure or the road slice needs faster data streaming in small packets, the advertisement option needs a bigger bandwidth.

Experts say Etisalat has already made a beginning that will set the trend for other regions to follow. But there was a word of caution as the commercial realization of these operations could be some time away.