6 GHz Band Offers Opportunity for Wi-Fi, O'Rielly Says

FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly told the Wi-Fi Alliance annual meeting Tuesday the 5.9 and 6 GHz bands offer the best hope for more spectrum for Wi-Fi. The 6 GHz band will offer the wide channel sizes important to the new standard, Wi-Fi 6, O’Rielly said. “Where 5.9 GHz would provide a nice new slice for unlicensed use, 6 GHz provides a whopping 1.2 gigahertz of spectrum.” Making the 6 GHz band available for Wi-Fi won't be easy, he said: “The FCC fully recognizes that incumbents must be protected. At the same time, any such protections must be reasonable. We no longer have the luxury of over-protecting incumbents via technical rules, enormous guard bands, or super-sized protection zones. Every megahertz must be used as efficiently as possible.” O’Rielly’s speech follows comments Monday at New America (see 1906030069 or 1906040021).