TDRA Wireless Rules Every UAE Office Wi-Fi Project Should Know
Office Wi-Fi in the UAE needs no individual spectrum licence, but only on two conditions set by the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA). Every access point must be type approved by TDRA, and every radio must stay inside the power limits in TDRA's Regulations for Ultra-Wide Band and Short Range Devices, version 5.0, dated 30 October 2023. Break either condition and the network is no longer covered by the class authorization that makes it licence free.
In practice those two conditions decide which part number you order, how the controller is set up on day one, and what the 6 GHz radio you paid for can actually do. Every figure below comes from the TDRA documents themselves.
What class authorization actually gives you
Article 3 of the version 5.0 regulations allows Wi-Fi, which TDRA calls Wireless Access Systems, under class authorization, meaning any person may operate it within the listed bands and limits. The same article adds that use is on a "non-interference and non-protection basis". The second half of that phrase matters in a shared tower in JLT or Business Bay: if the tenant on the floor below runs access points on the same channels, TDRA offers you no protection from them. Your defence is channel planning and a proper survey, not a complaint.
Article 3.3 covers anything that exceeds the listed power. Those systems have to be applied for under other TDRA spectrum regulations, such as the Fixed Radio Systems rules. That becomes relevant the moment someone proposes a long outdoor link at full power, which we come back to below.
The UAE power limits, band by band
These are the Wireless Access Systems rows from the Article 4 table of the TDRA regulations, version 5.0. All limits are e.i.r.p., the power leaving the antenna including antenna gain.
| Band | TDRA limit (e.i.r.p.) | Condition or note | Referenced standard |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2400 to 2483.5 MHz | 100 mW | None stated | EN 300 328 |
| 5150 to 5250 MHz | 200 mW | None stated | EN 301 893 |
| 5250 to 5350 MHz | 100 mW, or 200 mW with TPC | Transmit power control raises the cap | EN 301 893 |
| 5470 to 5725 MHz | 500 mW, or 1 W with TPC and DFS | Devices without radar detection fall back to the 5250 to 5350 MHz limits | EN 301 893 |
| 5725 to 5875 MHz | 2 W in a 10 MHz channel, 4 W in 20 MHz | Fixed broadband links | EN 302 502 |
| 5945 to 6425 MHz | 200 mW | In building only | EN 303 687 |
| 57 to 66 GHz | 10 W | Needs a sharing mechanism such as listen before talk | EN 302 567 |
Two readings of that table save trouble. First, the 5 GHz band is really three bands with three different ceilings, and the two middle ones depend on the access point supporting transmit power control (TPC) and dynamic frequency selection (DFS). Second, the 2.4 GHz cap of 100 mW is the lowest of all, which is one more reason to treat 2.4 GHz as a legacy band for printers and scanners rather than a design band.
Why the country code matters more than the spec sheet
Modern enterprise access points can transmit well above UAE limits if nothing holds them back. Take the HPE Aruba AP-635, a common Wi-Fi 6E ceiling unit. Its datasheet (HPE document a00114648ENW, Rev. 5) gives a maximum conducted power of +21 dBm per radio and peak internal antenna gain of 4.6 dBi at 2.4 GHz and 6.3 dBi at 6 GHz. Add them and you get about 25.6 dBm, roughly 363 mW, at 2.4 GHz against a UAE cap of 100 mW (20 dBm). At 6 GHz it is about 27.3 dBm, roughly 537 mW, against a cap of 200 mW (23 dBm).
What keeps that access point legal is the regulatory domain, the country code the firmware applies to every radio. HPE's AOS 8 command reference for the AP regulatory domain profile says the country code "determines the 802.11 wireless transmission spectrum", and that a controller designated for the US only accepts the US country code, so APs set to anything else will not bring their radios up. It also says an AP whose supported channels have no approval in the selected country reverts to Air Monitor mode.
This is why the variant on the purchase order matters. The same datasheet lists the AP-635 as separate part numbers with the suffixes EG, IL, JP, US, ID and RW, the last meaning rest of world. The UAE has no dedicated variant, so RW is the one to ask for, and a US unit bought abroad because it looked cheaper is the one to refuse. We cover the wider risks of that kind of purchase in genuine versus grey market IT hardware in the UAE.
6 GHz: indoor only, and a fixed 200 mW
Version 5.0 lists 5945 to 6425 MHz for Wi-Fi "in-Building only", capped at 200 mW e.i.r.p. A footnote adds that emissions must not exceed 200 mW measured 10 metres from the building or the boundary of the user's premises. For a Jebel Ali warehouse with a loading yard, or a villa office with a garden meeting area, the outdoor part of the design belongs on 5 GHz.
The table gives that 200 mW as a total with no per MHz figure. Read that way, the same 23 dBm is spread across whatever channel width you choose: about 10 dBm per MHz in a 20 MHz channel and about 1 dBm per MHz in a 160 MHz channel, a difference of 9 dB. Wide 6 GHz channels therefore suit small, dense rooms where the client sits close to the access point, such as a DIFC boardroom, and cost range on an open floor. That trade-off is why the Wi-Fi 6E versus Wi-Fi 7 decision in the UAE is less about headline speed than in markets with more 6 GHz spectrum.
The AP-635 datasheet places the 630 series in the low power indoor device class, "fixed indoor-only", which lines up with the TDRA condition. Connectorised models such as the AP-634, which can drive external antennas, are a different case, and their 6 GHz use needs checking against the in-building rule before anyone mounts one on a canopy.
Links between buildings: the 5.8 GHz and 60 GHz rows
Two rows in the table exist for point to point links rather than office coverage. The 5725 to 5875 MHz row allows up to 4 W e.i.r.p. in a 20 MHz channel and references ETSI EN 302 502, the standard for 5.8 GHz fixed broadband data transmitting systems. The 57 to 66 GHz row allows 10 W e.i.r.p. provided the equipment uses a spectrum sharing mechanism. Both suit a short hop between a showroom and a store across a yard in Dubai Investments Park.
Both are still class authorization, so both are still on a non-protection basis. A neighbouring company can put its own 5.8 GHz link on your channel and the class authorization gives you no protection from it. For a link carrying payments or CCTV, plan a fallback, and if the design needs more power than those rows allow, the Article 3.3 route to a licensed fixed link applies.
Type approval under TDRA's Version 4 policy
TDRA's published FAQ explains that the Type Approval Policy Version 4 took effect on 1 May 2026 and replaces three earlier documents: Type Approval Policy Version 3, Type Approval Regulation Version 3 and Type Approval Fees Policy Version 4. The points that touch a Wi-Fi purchase are these:
- Supplier first. The manufacturer or supplier must be registered before applying for approval, and that registration is valid for five years.
- Certificates expire. A Type Approval certificate is valid for three years and can be renewed.
- A test report is not enough. A device may not be displayed or sold on a test report alone until TDRA has issued the certificate.
- The mark must be visible. The conformity mark goes on the packaging and the device, and must be shown at points of sale and on online platforms before purchase is completed.
- Wi-Fi can face performance testing. The FAQ names Wi-Fi devices as an example of equipment that may need performance tests, beyond basic conformity.
- Firmware counts. A material software update that affects performance, compatibility or compliance needs compatibility testing, with results submitted to TDRA.
A pre-order checklist for a UAE Wi-Fi project
- Ask the supplier for the TDRA type approval certificate number for the exact model and check it on TDRA's Approved Equipment search, including that it falls within its three year validity.
- Confirm the regulatory variant on the quote line. For HPE Aruba that means RW, not US.
- Set the UAE country code on the controller or cloud dashboard before the first access point joins, not after users complain.
- Make sure the wireless site survey models UAE power caps, not the vendor maximum, or its coverage map will be optimistic.
- Keep 6 GHz indoors and design terraces and yards on 5 GHz.
- For any building to building link, check it against the 5.8 GHz or 60 GHz row and keep a record of the configured power.
Codeeo Tech supplies wireless hardware from Cisco and HPE Aruba and does not install or configure networks. Every item is priced on request, so send your access point list and the regulatory variant you need through the contact page, and ask for the TDRA certificate details alongside the quotation.
Cover photo: JLT Lake from first level, via Wikimedia Commons (CC0).
