The UAE's internet in numbers

Four questions that sound alike

The figures above answer different questions, and the numbers differ because of it. None of them proves where a particular person or device is.

Registered in the UAE

The regional internet registry (RIPE NCC for the UAE) lists the holder of the block with country code AE. It says who holds the addresses, not where they are used.

Geolocated to the UAE

A geolocation database (here DB-IP Lite) estimates that the block is used in the UAE. Foreign-registered blocks can be geolocated here, and UAE-registered blocks can be used abroad.

Announced by a UAE network

A network whose AS number is registered in the UAE originates the route in BGP. The traffic can still be handled elsewhere, for example by a cloud or content network.

Physically in the UAE

Where the equipment or the person actually is. No public dataset can establish this for an address; only the network operator knows.

UAE networks by announced IPv4 space

AS numbers registered to organisations in the UAE, ranked by the IPv4 address space they originate in our copy of the BGP table. Many are hosting and cloud companies in the free zones, not consumer providers.

Look up a network →

Where UAE IPv4 addresses are estimated to be used, by emirate

IPv4 addresses that DB-IP Lite places in the UAE, summed per emirate. This is a location estimate for address blocks, usually where the provider's equipment is, not where people live.

DB-IP spells some emirates more than one way (“Ras Al Khaimah” next to “Raʼs al Khaymah”); we fold the labels into the seven emirates without moving any range. Dubai's and Abu Dhabi's shares reflect where the national operators' central equipment and the data centres are, not population.

The .ae domain

Facts about the country-code domain, checked against the IANA root zone database and our own copy of the IANA RDAP bootstrap.

Registry

.ae Domain Administration (.aeDA), part of the Telecommunications and Digital Government Regulatory Authority (TDRA)

WHOIS server (IANA)

whois.aeda.net.ae

RDAP service

None listed in the IANA bootstrap (our copy of 28 Oct 2026)

DNSSEC

The root zone holds no DS record for .ae, so .ae names cannot be validated with DNSSEC (checked October 2026). Test any name live: Run the DNSSEC check →

Second-level names

Most names are registered directly under .ae; .co.ae, .net.ae, .org.ae, .gov.ae, .ac.ae, .sch.ae and .mil.ae also exist.

Guides for the UAE

• UAE networks·Oct 29, 2026·3 min read

  Network checks for businesses in Dubai, Abu Dhabi and across the UAE

  A practical checklist for small and medium businesses: your public IP, static addresses, CGNAT, DNS, email records, TLS certificates and IPv6 — with a tool for each step.

• UAE networks·Oct 28, 2026·2 min read

  IP addresses and networks in the UAE: who holds the address space

  How IP addresses and AS numbers reach UAE organisations, which networks announce the most space, and how much of it is protected by RPKI — from our own data.

• UAE networks·Oct 28, 2026·2 min read

  IP geolocation in the UAE: why your location often shows Dubai

  Why IP location services put most UAE connections in Dubai or Abu Dhabi, what the registry and the routing table say instead, and how to get a wrong location corrected.