e& UAE has once again topped Ookla’s Speedtest rankings for the first half of 2026, claiming the title of world’s fastest mobile network for the sixth time and becoming the only operator to reach that mark. The network posted a Speed Score of 88.41, with median download speeds of 826.5 Mbps and uploads of 45.95 Mbps, according to the consumer tests that form the basis of the awards.
The same period brought a fifth consecutive win for the world’s fastest 5G network. Here the Speed Score reached 82.75, driven by median downloads of 953.23 Mbps and uploads of 54.63 Mbps. Fixed broadband results followed a similar pattern. e& UAE took the GCC’s fastest fixed network title for a sixth straight time and the Middle East’s fastest fixed network for a second, recording a Speed Score of 75.75. Peak fixed speeds were listed at 883.2 Mbps down and 326.06 Mbps up.
Ookla bases these rankings on crowdsourced Speedtest results initiated by users. Only operators already named fastest in their own country are eligible for the global mobile crown, a rule that narrows the field before the final comparison begins. The consistency of e& UAE’s results across successive half-year periods is notable; few networks maintain such dominance when the data set is refreshed every six months and when device mixes, test locations and usage patterns continue to shift.
Still, median and peak figures drawn from voluntary tests inevitably reflect the conditions under which those tests occur. Dense urban coverage, high-end devices and preferential network prioritization can lift the numbers, while rural or congested areas may be under-represented. The gap between median mobile download speeds and the higher 5G medians also illustrates how much of the performance edge is concentrated in the newer radio layer. Fixed results, reported partly as top speeds rather than pure medians, leave open questions about how consistently those peaks are delivered across the subscriber base.
The awards arrive at a moment when many national operators are still balancing spectrum investment, densification and the gradual shift of traffic onto 5G Standalone cores. e& UAE’s repeated appearances at the top of Ookla’s tables suggest sustained capital spending and operational focus on throughput. Whether those same advantages translate into equally strong experiences for every subscriber, or simply for the subset that runs frequent Speedtests, remains outside the scope of the published scores. What the numbers do show is a network that continues to lead the measured pack in both mobile and fixed categories across its home region and, for mobile, on the global stage.
