Despite new spectrum policy for cellular, Wi-Fi’s 6 GHz band is thriving, future-proof and central to the next wave of connectivity
A proven success story for Wi-Fi
In 2020, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) opened the full 1200 megahertz of spectrum in the 6 GHz band (5.925–7.125 GHz) for unlicensed use. Five years later, billions of Wi-Fi 6/6E devices have shipped, Wi-Fi 7 has arrived, and 6 GHz Wi-Fi has become a global standard. The results are transformative: faster speeds, lower latency and more capacity in homes, enterprises and public spaces.
Wi-Fi 7 in particular introduces powerful innovations like Multi-Link Operation (MLO), doubling usable channel widths to 320 megahertz, improving spectral efficiency with higher-order QAM and delivering single-millisecond latency. This isn’t theory — flagship phones, laptops and routers already ship with 6 GHz support, and adoption is accelerating.
Policy clarity: The 6 GHz band remains unlicensed
Some observers claim that the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) signals a U.S. policy shift on 6 GHz. That is incorrect.
The OBBBA restored FCC auction authority and directed the FCC and NTIA to find 800 megahertz for licensed cellular services: 300 megahertz of commercially available spectrum and 500 megahertz of federal spectrum. The act specifies candidate ranges — 2.7–2.9 GHz, 4.4–4.9 GHz, and 7.125–7.4 GHz — but crucially, 6 GHz is not included.
Simply put: nothing in the OBBBA touches the 6 GHz band. U.S. policy remains unchanged, and the full 1200 megahertz stays dedicated to unlicensed use.
As Wi-Fi Forward’s Mary Brown put it in an interview with the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance: “6 GHz — there’s no change in policy. And, if anything, coming out of the debate in Congress, Wi-Fi landed in a much stronger spot than when the debate started.”
Why 6–7 GHz is the wrong fit for macro cellular
Cellular advocates continue to push for licensed IMT use of the upper 6 GHz band. But physics is not on their side.
Macro base stations operating at 6–7 GHz struggle with uplink coverage — the limiting factor for AI, AR/VR and cloud-driven applications that require users to send rich data back to the network. As Christopher Szymanski of Broadcom notes, “Trying to satisfy latency-sensitive uplink traffic on a 6 or 7 GHz macro cell base station defies the laws of physics.”
The reality is clear: uplink-heavy workloads like gen AI are better served below 5 GHz for cellular, while 6 GHz is uniquely well-suited to Wi-Fi. Ookla’s Speedtest Global Index shows fixed broadband — which overwhelmingly connects users via Wi-Fi — provides nearly 4x more uplink capacity than mobile networks. That’s why high-end devices almost universally include 6 GHz Wi-Fi, while mobile macro deployments at these frequencies would underperform.
Wi-Fi 8: The next leap forward
While Wi-Fi 7 devices are just reaching the market, the industry is already preparing for Wi-Fi 8. Drafted under IEEE 802.11bn and now entering Wi-Fi Alliance certification, Wi-Fi 8 is focused on ultra-high reliability.
The goal: bulletproof performance in congested, interference-heavy environments, including at the edge of the network where mobility and uplink demands are highest. For AI assistants, AR/VR experiences and real-time applications, this reliability matters as much as raw speed.
As uplink traffic grows — Ericsson projects 26% of gen AI-related traffic will be uplink-heavy, with some applications approaching a 50/50 balance — Wi-Fi is ideally positioned to handle it. That future-proofing underscores why regulators should keep 6 GHz focused on unlicensed use, where innovation is already thriving.
The bottom line
Wi-Fi’s success in the 6 GHz band is undeniable. U.S. policy remains firmly committed to keeping it unlicensed. And with Wi-Fi 8 on the horizon, the technology is set to meet the next decade of connectivity challenges — while macro cellular would be fighting physics uphill at these frequencies.
6 GHz is for Wi-Fi. And it’s working.
