Egypt runs an upper 6GHz mobile trial, testing the next capacity band before it is licensed

Egypt's telecommunications regulator reported a mobile field trial in the upper 6GHz range during August 2026, conducted with the national operator and equipment vendors, with a peak downlink throughput of about 1.7Gbps.

The upper 6GHz range is one of the most contested pieces of radio spectrum internationally. Mobile operators want it as the next large capacity band; Wi-Fi and satellite interests want it left unlicensed or protected. Trials are how regulators build a technical record before making that choice.

What the number does and does not mean

A peak throughput figure from a controlled trial describes what the equipment can do under favourable conditions. It is not a forecast of what a customer would experience. Real-world speeds depend on distance, obstruction, how many users share a cell, and the capacity of the fibre behind the site.

The coverage trade-off

Higher frequencies carry more data over shorter distances and penetrate walls poorly. Deploying the band widely would require substantially more sites than existing mid-band spectrum, which is why capacity bands are typically concentrated in dense urban areas rather than deployed nationally.

The regulatory question

No licensing decision follows automatically from a trial. Egypt released 410MHz of spectrum in February 2026, covered in our report on that award; the upper 6GHz question sits beyond it, and is likely to be shaped by international allocation decisions as much as by domestic demand.

What to watch

Look for the regulator's consultation documents on the band, any change to its published spectrum roadmap, and whether the trial is extended to multi-site conditions rather than single-cell measurement.