UAE telecom operator du said on 6 October that its 5G+ indoor network at Mall of the Emirates had recorded peak speeds above 3.5 gigabits per second. The company described the site as a high-density retail environment where visitors, staff and digital services compete for wireless capacity. The release says the deployment uses more than 150 antennas and a combined 300 megahertz of spectrum across the N78 and N41 bands.

According to du, the configuration combines 200MHz in band N78 with 100MHz in N41. The company said the network achieved throughput more than 50 percent above 5G non-standalone performance. This is an operator-reported comparison and peak figure; the release does not publish test conditions, sample sizes, user distribution, average speeds or a third-party measurement. A peak result should therefore not be read as a guaranteed experience for every shopper or device.

Indoor mobile coverage is a separate engineering challenge from outdoor macro-network coverage. Large commercial buildings can attenuate radio signals and concentrate demand in food courts, stores, event areas and transport links. A dense antenna layout can improve signal availability and distribute traffic, while additional spectrum increases the capacity available to serve users. Actual service quality still depends on backhaul, device compatibility, network load, interference and how spectrum is scheduled across users.

The report associates the upgrade with 5G-Advanced capabilities, including enhanced uplink and downlink, faster response and support for applications such as live streaming, augmented reality and connected devices. These are technical use cases enabled by network capacity and latency improvements, not proof that every application is commercially deployed at the mall. No contract value, capital expenditure, coverage footprint beyond the venue or subscriber uptake was disclosed.

For a retail venue, stronger connectivity can support point-of-sale systems, visitor services, staff communications and data-rich customer experiences. Businesses may benefit if reliable indoor coverage reduces failed transactions or enables new services, but those effects require operating data to establish. The announcement documents one specific infrastructure deployment and its claimed peak performance. It does not establish citywide 5G+ performance or a measured economic return from the installation.

The company’s report is a site-specific network result, not an independent nationwide audit. A useful comparison for customers would include typical speeds at busy and quiet times, indoor coverage across floors, latency, reliability and performance for different devices. For businesses, evidence of reduced checkout interruption or improved service availability would show whether the additional radio equipment produces operational value. Those measures were not included in the announcement, so the reported peak remains a technical headline rather than a full cost-benefit assessment.