05 Feb 2020

Good news for Wi-Fi as regulators free up more spectrum

Ofcom is the latest national communications regulator to propose opening up more spectrum for Wi-Fi – a move that will be welcomed by the industry.

The Wi-Fi industry has been lobbying national regulators for years to provide more spectrum as the two main existing 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wi-Fi bands are filling up.

So the news that Ofcom in the UK is proposing to make 500MHz of the 6GHz spectrum available for Wi-Fi, along with 18.2GHz of Extremely High Frequency (EHF) spectrum in the 100-200GHz band, will be warmly welcomed.

Ofcom’s research reveals that demand for data is indeed growing, with UK households now using 315GB of broadband data a month – the equivalent of watching up to four hours of HD video content a day. It also recognised that new services are being developed that require reliable connections on the move.

The 500MHz of additional licence-exempt spectrum in the 6GHz frequency band will help people get a more reliable connection across all devices using Wi-Fi in the home and in the office, according to Ofcom.

The regulator added that the new frequencies will support new innovative uses for very low-power outdoor use, such as virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR).