However, China has been trying for many years to convert this band into a cellular mobile band with a view to disturb India\u2019s TV broadcast channels. China\u2019s proposal to the last ITU World Radio Conference in 2019 (WRC-19) for the 6GHz band to be considered for cellular services was opposed by India and several other Asian countries and was rejected by the ITU, the specialized UN agency responsible for global spectrum policies. On the other hand most developed countries around the world have already opened this band for low power Wi-Fi so that higher power mobile cellular should not disturb the critical broadcasting services.

Chinese companies, such as Huawei have again started lobbying the regulators in India to push for allocation of 6GHz for the mobile cellular services in this band. Industry think tank IAFI has written several letters to the communications minister, pleading for early delicensing of this band so the possibility of Chinese push could be countered.

In today\u2019s technology driven economy, the Internet has an effect on every aspect of human life. From an economic standpoint, it has been broadly estimated that a 10% increase in broadband penetration in a country could potentially lead to over 1% increase in GDP. However, affordable internet and reliable connectivity are two key problems that plague over 40% of the world\u2019s population i.e., especially rural areas. Wi-Fi especially brings many advantages in terms of very low capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX), it is easy to deploy, easy to operate, and easy to use, which are considered fundamental requirements to cater rural areas. It is also complemented by the user device ecosystem where Wi-Fi radio is available in almost all smartphones, tablets, laptops, and desktops (by adding Wi-Fi dongle), which makes Wi-Fi an ultimate solution to solve the world\u2019s hunger for data and connectivity.

With Wi-Fi-6e supporting the 6GHz spectrum use for Wi-Fi technology, regulators across the regions have taken decisions in this subject matter to open the 6GHz band fully or partly depending on the geography, incumbent technology in operation etc. The USA telecom regulator FCC opened the complete 6GHz band from 5925 to 7125 MHz) in April 2020. Since then many countries including South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Canada, Chili, Costa Rica, Peru, Honduras and Guatemala have adopted this full 6 GHz band for unlicensed usage. Twenty-four more countries are either considering or have taken decisions to open fully or partly the 6GHz band for WiFi depending on their national situations.

The evolution of Wi-Fi technology has been very instrumental in driving innovation throughout the industry and it continues to play a key role in providing affordable internet access to the poorest part of the world. With evolving standards, Wi-Fi is being globally adopted and used in a wide range of use-cases not just limited to home environments, enterprise, and across multiple other segments such as industrial, motion sensing, connected cars, rural connectivity to name a few.

Considering the cost of deploying a Wi-Fi solution and its ability to quickly extend the network coverage to larger geographies with sparser population at a fraction of the cost of cellular networks, Wi-Fi is considered as the de-facto standard for rural use-cases. Wi-Fi technology is based on IEEE 802.11 standards and operates in unlicensed 2.4GHz and 5GHz spectrum bands. With ratification of the latest 802.11ax standards, it also operates in 6GHz band spectrum, referred to as Wi-Fi 6E, which is a game-changing evolution to bring Wi-Fi at par with 5G cellular technology. This has opened many important use cases for Wi-Fi, most importantly Industrial use cases which require low latency deterministic network behaviors and high bandwidth intensive AR\/VR\/Gaming use cases.

While there are mixed positions from certain countries and companies, including interst from Indian operators on whether this band need to be globally harmonized for cellular applications, the policy position by India on this band was made clear to the world during the World Radio Conference held in 2019. At this conference, India took the position that to protect the existing services in this band, including satellite and cellular fixed services, India cannot permit the identification of this band for high power, outdoor, cellular like applications. With that, the next best alternative is to assign this for low power unlicensed operations, and create economic value through it. A recent report from the Broadband India Forum clearly indicates that coexistence is possible with the prevailing services when the 6GHz band is opened up for Wi-Fi 6E operation.

It must be noted that a country does not reap economic benefits from the sale of spectrum alone. Economic value is also generated when businesses are able to develop systems and services that operate in that band. By opening up this band for unlicensed mode of operation, an estimated USD 4.9 trillion worth of economic activity can be triggered by 2025, as indicated in a study by the Wi-Fi Alliance. India therefore needs immediate policy actions to latch on to this opportunity, and to retain a bulk of this economic activities on its march to become a 5 trillion economy.

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