OPINION Dobias van Ingen - HPE Aruba
“Even before the current pandemic sent us all home, Wi-Fi was carrying more internet traffic than any other
wireless technology.” Dobias van Ingen, EMEA CTO and SE Director - HPE Aruba
6 GHz spectrum: Wi-Fi’s New Frontier
When the last 5 GHz band was opened in 2003 it heralded the dawn of a new connected age in which Wi-Fi
enabled devices would become woven into the very fabric of our lives all around the world. Fast forward 17
years and last month’s decision by the FCC to release 1.2 GHz of unlicensed spectrum to Wi-Fi in the US looks
set to catapult us into the next phase of the Wi-Fi revolution. Dobias van Ingen, EMEA CTO and SE Director at
HPE Aruba explains
Plans to open this spectrum
from approximately
5.9 GHz to 7.1 GHz
will undoubtably allow
the U.S. to edge ahead in its
Wi-Fi mission and could have
a signicant impact on other
regions as a result. While the
European CEPT (Conference of
Postal and Telecommunications
Administrations) has been
working hard to ensure that the
region is on track to release 500
MHz of 6 GHz spectrum in the
near future, Europe will need
to keep a close eye on the action
across the Atlantic. Failing to
eventually follow suit in oering
a more complete spectrum could
leave the continent lagging
behind and unable to deliver
on both its Wi-Fi promises and
objective to realise a Gigabit
Society.
Delivering the Wi-Fi Gigabit
Band Promise
Even before the current
pandemic sent us all home,
Wi-Fi was carrying more
internet trac than any other
wireless technology. And
unfortunately, the strain of
all this demand is starting to
show, especially in high-density
mobile environments like
apartment buildings, airports
and stadiums. As the rollout
of 5G, the proliferation of IoT
devices, and the explosion of
Wi-Fi dependent services, drives
more and more devices onto the
limited amount of unlicensed
spectrum available, it is forcing
the technology to make
unsustainable compromises in
order to coexist with so many
users.
Aside from causing
Dobias van Ingen, EMEA CTO and SE Director at HPE Aruba
performance issues today, the
congestion of the unlicensed
spectrum also has bigger
implications in terms of the
industry’s promise to deliver the
type of multi-gigabit services
that are in increasing demand –
making it dicult to enable the
80 MHz or 160 MHz channels
these services require.
With the provision of
additional licensed spectrum,
wider channels will be available.
Opening 6 GHz to Wi-Fi will
accommodate 14 additional
80 MHz channels and seven
additional 160 MHz channels
– all of which are needed to
accommodate today’s growing
number of high-bandwidth
applications and their need for
faster data throughput, such as
high-denition video streaming
and virtual reality. Europe is
currently looking to add six
additional 80MHz channels and
three 160 MHz channels.
To put it simply, we need
additional unlicensed spectrum
to deliver on the Wi-Fi promise
– both today and in the future.
Driving the Wi-Fi 6 revolution
Ratied late last year, Wi-Fi 6
(802.11ax) is expected to become
the defacto Wi-Fi standard in
the next three years. Within
Europe, IDC estimates that
the Wi-Fi 6 market will grow
from $61.75 million in 2019 to
$1.6 billion in 2024. Additional
unlicensed spectrum will be
integral to supporting this
next generation of Wi-Fi that
is already struggling with the
limited capacity of the 5 GHz
band.
However, the full advantages
of Wi-Fi 6 will only be realized
when Wi-Fi 6 equipment does
not have to work around other
radio standards. With enough
spectrum to safely deploy
wider channels and green-eld
deployments alleviating concerns
of backwards capability, the
6 GhH band will essentially
become a VIP-only area for
Wi-Fi 6 users. is additional
airspace, uncrowded by legacy
devices, will allow enterprises
to lean on Wi-Fi more heavily
than in the past for use cases
within manufacturing, logistics,
and critical communications,
to name a few. Industrial
environments are also expected
to see strong adoption of Wi-
Fi 6E to deliver applications
including machine analytics,
remote maintenance, or virtual
employee training. Wi-Fi 6E is
the name of a new extension to
the existing Wi-Fi 6 standard to
signify it’s capable of supporting
all-new 6 GHz frequencies. e
6 GHz spectrum will unlock
the full potential of Wi-Fi 6,
and become key to driving its
adoption.
As the U.S. releases the 6
GHz spectrum for Wi-Fi, it
can look forward to not only
resolving current congestion
and bandwidth problems, but
also unleashing the full future
benets of Wi-Fi 6. Europe must
take note and continue ghting
to release our own spectrum
and nalizing the allocation of
the much needed 500 MHz of
unlicensed spectrum in the 5.9-
6.4 GHz band.
e success of European
enterprises depends on a wireless
infrastructure that enables
them to compete with their
counterparts in the U..S, and
consumers in London, Paris, and
Rome deserve to enjoy the same
high-speed wireless experience
as consumers in New York City,
Dallas, or Los Angeles.
50 | Comms Business Magazine | June 2020 www.commsbusiness.co.uk
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