IAFI urges minister to urgently delicense lower 6GHz band

: ITU-APT Foundation of India (IAFI) in a letter to Shri Ashwini Vaishnaw, Minister of Communications , IT and Railways, urged the minister to urgently delicense the lower 6 GHz band (5925-6425 MHz) to boost the India’s local manufacturing, innovation and exports, not just for telecom but in many other Industrial sector as a whole as most products in future will have inbuilt Wi-Fi 6e modules and India’s export of industrial products may be compromised without access to the prime 6GHz band.

Drawing from the decisions reached at the recently concluded World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23), a pivotal global conference held in Dubai from November to December 2023 that brought together over 4,000 spectrum and industry experts from 172 countries. Among many key issues addressed during the conference, the 6 GHz band had drawn maximum attention of the participants from across the world. WRC-23 had decided to identify the band 6425-7025 MHz for 5G in Europe Middle East and Africa (ITU Region 1) with strict conditions to protect satellites, while keeping that band available for Wi-Fi for administrations wanting to delicense the same. However, the frequency band 5925-6425 continues to be open for Wi-Fi and other non-IMT radio services on shared basis.

In its letter sent the Minister and copied to the DOT, IAFI mentioned that the COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally shifted work patterns, leading to a widespread adoption of the “work from home” model. This surge in remote work has driven an unprecedented demand for Wi-Fi connectivity. Currently, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) permits Wi-Fi use only in the 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz frequency bands.

Unfortunately, these bands offer a combined spectrum of approximately 600 MHz, falling significantly short of the over 2 GHz needed to meet current demand. It is estimated that present use of Wi-Fi in India creates an economic value of about Rs. 1.6 Lakh crores every year, includes contributions from the use of Wi-Fi by consumers, businesses, service providers, and more.

Considering the importance of the Wi-Fi in 6 GHz band, the entire developed world including major economies USA, Canada, France, Germany, UK, Singapore, UAE etc, have already delicensed Wi-Fi 6e in 5925-6425 MHz.

IAFI has therefore called for urgent delicensing of the lower 6 GHz band (5925-6425 MHz) for Wi-Fi 6e. This delicensing of lower 6 GHz band will further boost the India’s local manufacturing, innovation and exports, not just for telecom but in many other Industrial sector as a whole as most products in future will have inbuilt Wi-Fi modules and India’s export of industrial products may be compromised without access to the necessary Wi-Fi modules.

As Wi-Fi-6e is still a niche technology, it is easier for the Indian telecom hardware and software companies to corner a large part of this futuristic global market, which we could not do in case of 5 GHz Wi-Fi, as it was delicensed in India after more than 20 years from rest of the world.

It is pertinent to mention here that the Government of India’s initiatives to expand broadband access are further enhanced by the PM Public Wi-Fi Program (PM-WANI), which aims to proliferate public Wi-Fi for the masses. Complementing these efforts, the BharatNet Project has significantly advanced rural connectivity, establishing over 104,675 Wi-Fi hotspots to bridge the last mile of internet access.

So, to support domestic innovation and align with global trends, IAFI has strongly urged the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to prioritize the delicensing of the 5925-6425 MHz frequency band, as proposed earlier. This aligns with similar actions taken by numerous developed and developing countries and is crucial for empowering our engineers and promoting the “Aatmanirbhar Bharat” initiative.

CT Bureau