After months of lobbying from both sides, the operators have succeeded in gaining exclusive access to the much-desired upper 6 GHz band. Victory comes in the form of a recommendation from the European Commission’s Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG), which has issued a highly anticipated opinion on the use of the band for 6G. There is still some wiggle room to decide what will be left for unlicensed use, but whatever the outcome, the WiFi crowd will get far less than they asked for.
The RSPG has recommended that mobile operators get priority access to 540 MHz of spectrum in the 6,585-7,125 MHz band. “The upper 6 GHz band can play an important role in this ecosystem, providing the necessary spectrum resources to support the next generation of mobile communications,” the group wrote.
While 6,425-6,585 MHz, some 160 MHz (about 20%), will be used as a guard band to protect WAS and RLAN (Wireless Access Systems and Radio Local Area Networks) in the lower 6 GHz band (5,945-6,425 MHz), where they have exclusive access.
But the final decision on the use of the 6,425-6,585 MHz sliver will be decided after the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU’s) World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) in 2027. If the WRC decides to allocate the additional 7,125-7,250 MHz band for 6G, then the 160 MHz in the upper 6 GHz band is likely to be designated for WiFi.
However, if the WRC does designate the 7,125–7,250 MHz band for 6G, there is a strong case for assigning the 6,425-6,585 MHz band for MNO use, the RSPG said. This faint promise to give WiFi 160 MHz comes in far below the hopes set by the WiFi advocates. Last week, the Wi-Fi Alliance and Dynamic Spectrum Alliance (DSA) called on the RSPG to leave 6 GHz regulations unchanged.
“When it comes to allocating key spectrum bands, political considerations appear to be now overriding the concrete evidence gathered by the EU’s expert groups,” the open letter says. “The extensive input to both the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT) and the Radio Spectrum Policy Group (RSPG) has highlighted how WiFi is better placed to use the upper 6 GHz band (6,425-7,125 MHz) than mobile networks.”
The Wi-Fi Alliance and DSA said they would accept a compromise, whether that was spectrum-sharing, or access to at least 320 MHz of the upper 6 GHz band, to allow for the maximum channel width for WiFi 7. The RSPG concluded that spectrum sharing was likely to be detrimental to both groups and so has not chosen this option.
Even in its report, the RSPG acknowledges the critical role of WiFi networks, writing: “the RSPG is of the opinion that the demand for Wireless Access Systems, including Radio Local Area Networks (WAS/RLAN), is expected to grow significantly in the coming years. This growth is driven by the increasing reliance on wireless connectivity for various applications.”
But this was not enough to move the dial. The RSPG decided that the 6 GHz band was too valuable for MNO use.
“The RSPG considers that the upper 6 GHz band (6425-7125 MHz) potentially plays an important role to fulfil the future MFCN (Mobile/Fixed Communications Networks) demand. This band offers several benefits, in particularly for urban suburban coverage using the 3600 MHz grid and other high traffic areas,” the group wrote, providing a list of reasons:
- Spectrum Availability:
- The upper 6 GHz band provides a significant amount of contiguous spectrum that can be utilized for high-capacity services.
- The upper 6 GHz band is the only new mid-band to support the introduction of 6G in Europe, offering wider channels.
- Balance between Coverage and Capacity:
- The propagation characteristics of the upper 6 GHz band strike a balance between coverage and capacity, making it suitable for both urban and suburban deployments.
- Support for Advanced Use Cases:
- The band can support advanced use cases such as high-definition video streaming, AR/VR applications, and real-time industrial automation.
For further MNO spectrum requirements, the RSPG recommends “a combination of additional spectrum, spectrum refarming, technological advancements, infrastructure enhancements, and regulatory measures.”
Following the RSPG’s guidance and policy direction, the CEPT (through its Electronic Communications Committee, ECC) will now develop the technical and regulatory details of the spectrum policy.
The European operator lobby group, the GSMA, has responded by pushing for even more dominance over the 6 GHz band.
“The opinion recognizes that a constrained mobile assignment of only 540 MHz of the upper 6 GHz band for licensed mobile use would, on its own, have fallen short of what is required for Europe to build advanced, resilient, and sovereign mobile networks. In other geographies, the entire upper band 6 GHz has been allocated to mobile, allowing for at least 700 MHz of capacity even before WRC-27,” the GSMA said in a statement.
“Europe needs to strengthen its position in quality, speed and resilience of mobile networks and to remain competitive against other major markets – in particular East Asia, the Gulf and the USA.
These countries may yet go further at WRC-27 and Europe will need to continue progress on supporting ongoing needs for the launch of 6G in the 2030s.”
What now for indoor coverage?
The RSPG decision could further damage Europe’s indoor coverage. Europe already has a poor record for indoor mobile coverage, and this limit to unlicensed spectrum will exacerbate the issue.
A solution for this could be building codes that require certain communication infrastructure, such as conduits for wiring and signal penetration allowances. Another option is that spectrum licenses also include a minimum number of indoor sites and public quality scorecards based on regular testing of indoor coverage.
Global approaches to the 6 GHz band are varied. China championed the MNO cause by allocating the upper 6 GHz band exclusively to 5G services in 2023.
But the US, where the clamor from the WiFi brigade is strong, has gone the other way by making the whole 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use, especially by low-power devices.
Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia have this year auctioned parts of the 6 GHz band, or made plans to do so, and the UAE plans to follow suit.
The UK has taken more of a middle line, as per the EU, by making just the lower 6 GHz band (5,925-6,425 MHz) available for license-exempt use including WiFi, while the upper 6 GHz band (6,425-7,125 MHz) will be shared with cellular networks.