In April 2020, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) officially opened up the 6 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use, resulting in the introduction of Wi-Fi 6E, and in turn, faster speeds and increased capacity. To mark the three-year anniversary of 6 GHz Wi-Fi, RCR Wireless News caught up with Broadcom, one of the decision’s earliest and strongest supporters, to find out how the spectrum update is impacting the wireless industry.
6 GHz Wi-Fi has been an unprecedented success
“It is pretty amazing how the 6 GHz band has been put to such productive use so quickly,” said Vijay Nagarajan, vice president of product marketing for Broadcom’s Wireless Communications Connectivity Division. “In just three short years, we have seen a significant number of client devices launch, every single major operator in the US, and now Canada and Europe, have 6 GHz Wi-Fi on their roadmap, and significant announcements by enterprise AP manufacturers on stadium, healthcare and educational installments.”
Intel reported there are more than 1200 different Wi-Fi 6E products on the market today. According to Christopher Szymanski, director of product marketing for Broadcom’s Wireless Communications Division, this represents a much faster pace of innovation than is typical. “Typically, it takes 18 to 36 months in the design cycle of a product. So, to see that many devices already in the market in just three years shows pent-up demand,” he said. “Since then, nearly 70% of the world’s GDP has opened up, at least partially, the 6 GHz band.”
To enable this, the standards and certification bodies had to move quickly. Szymanski also pointed out that 6 GHz Wi-Fi was such a “big deal” that IEEE extended the band plan for 802.11ax, and the Wi-Fi Alliance created a certification and branding program specifically for the designation, departing from the usual trend of waiting for an entirely new generation of Wi-Fi — such as Wi-Fi 6 or Wi-Fi 7 — to do so.
When asked how to square the number of devices that have hit the market in just three years, and the 18–to-36-month design cycle, Szymanski indicated that the market was extremely “hungry,” and significant investments were made even before the FCC made the band available.
Wi-Fi at 6 GHz has proven to coexist well with incumbent services
Broadcom and its industry partners began working to open up the band in 2016 and due to the enormous potential, Wi-Fi 6 GHz innovation began early on. The key, explained Szymanski, was proving to the FCC that coexistence with the thousands of incumbent license holders, many of which were fixed service operators and very vocal about their concerns of interference, was possible.
However, when Broadcom started analyzing coexistence with fixed service six years ago, there were a little over 86,000 fixed links U-NII-5 (5.925–6.425 GHz) and U-NII-7 (6.525–6.875 GHz) in the continental U.S. When the Commission opened up the band in April 2020, shared Szymanski, that number had grown to over 97,000 fixed links. Now, at the three-year mark, there are nearly 106,000 fixed links.
“This three-year anniversary clearly demonstrates that the Commission got this 5-0 decision correct,” said Szymanski. “Massive investment has already taken place, there’s been over 8% growth in the number of fixed links. There have been concerns and studies raised, but no harmful interference has been reported.”
In addition, there were those who thought a better use for at least a part of the band was to license it for mobile broadband use. When asked whether this was a credible option for the FCC, Szymanski responded: “Can you imagine trying to migrate tens of thousands of fixed links? Where would the FCC put them?”
He argued that rather than forcing incumbents to stop using the band, and then trying to relocate those services, the band has been put to immediate productive use.
Wi-Fi 7 was designed with 6 GHz availability in mind
While the past three years have been monumental for 6 GHz development and adoption, it’s worth noting that the best is yet to come. Unlike Wi-Fi 6, Wi-Fi 7 is being built from the ground up with 6 GHz access in mind. “Because of that, you’re going to see a whole new set of applications that will come about with the adoption of 6 GHz-fueled Wi-Fi 7,” stated Szymanski.
Among other enhancements, Wi-Fi 7 promises a 5x increase in capacity and a 100x increase in latency performance. “Wi-Fi 6 was meant to demonstrate the value of 6 GHz, but Wi-Fi 7 truly realizes the potential of 6 GHz,” summarized Nagarajan.
In closing, Szymanski and Nagarajan made a point to honor the FCC Commissioners and the bipartisan congress that made 6 GHz Wi-Fi a reality. Nagarajan concluded: “It is important to recognize the FCC’s leadership here. The unanimous vote by the FCC back in April 2020 was the result of an incredible amount of work that their staff put in. It is also a culmination of the commitment that each of the commissioners had for innovation and unlicensed access. On this anniversary, we would like to appreciate and thank the FCC and the bipartisan Congress for paving the way to our wireless future.”
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