e& UAE tests live eRedCap tech to expand its 5G IoT capabilities

Details: John Tanner; Category: Enterprise Ecosystems; 17 August 2026; 927 views

e& UAE announced on Thursday it has successfully tested enhanced RedCap (eRedCap) technology on its live network, which it says will broaden its ability to support native-5G IoT devices.

e& UAE said that its live commercial test successfully delivered throughput speeds of up to 10 Mbps on eRedCap devices while utilising a 5-MHz narrow bandwidth of 5G N FDD spectrum. A data transmission unit (DTU) was integrated into the live network to verify eRedCap’s services.

e& UAE also claims that it’s the first telco in the world to test eRedCap on a live network.

eRedCap is a further iteration of RedCap (Reduced Capability) technology that was first standardised under the 3GPP’s Release 17 as the 5G version of NB-IoT and LTE-M, enabling devices like wearables and industry sensors to connect to 5G Standalone networks with simplified radios that consume less power and thus extend battery life.

eRedCap – which is part of Release 18 – simplifies IoT devices further, with peak symmetrical data rates capped at 10 Mbps. E& UAE said using a narrower 5-MHz channel extends device battery life from one to three years under RedCap to 5 -10 years under eRedCap.

This essentially means that eRedCap can match LTE Cat-1/Cat-1bis in cost, coverage, and battery life, thus providing 5G SA networks a native replacement for legacy IoT devices and supporting the industry’s transition to more energy-efficient networks as LTE sunsets in future, said Abdulrahman Al Humaidan, senior VP of access network development at e& UAE.

“The value of eRedCap is the ability to bring practical, everyday IoT applications into the 5G era at the right cost, power profile and coverage,” he said in a statement. “By proving this capability on our live commercial network, e& UAE is giving utilities, manufacturers, logistics providers, smart-city operators and other sectors a credible path to scale connected devices and prepare for the industry's long-term transition beyond LTE.”

For its enterprise customers, this also means they can progressively consolidate more IoT use cases on 5G SA rather than maintaining separate technology paths for 5G and LTE-based IoT, he added.

e& UAE launched RedCap on its 5G SA network in October 2025 – initially for smart watches –with plans to expand adoption across wearables and industries, progressing toward 5G-A capabilities.