Excitement Rising Over 6 GHz as Next Big Wi-Fi Band, DSA Summit Told

The 6 GHz, citizens broadband radio service and C bands got much of the attention at the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance Global Summit Thursday. Another hot topic was CBRS-like sharing beyond the 3.5 GHz band. FCC Commissioner Mike O’Rielly touched on all three bands during his keynote speech (see 1906270026).

The 6 GHz band's “very, very exciting” for his company and the Wi-Fi sector in general, said Chris Szymanski, Broadcom director-government affairs: "After scouring all the mid-bands, the industry landed on 6 GHz as really the ideal band for Wi-Fi expansion.” The 6 GHz band can be globally harmonized and can be deployed rapidly, especially since providers are already building similar gear for the nearby 5 GHz band, Szymanski said: “This isn’t something that’s going to take a generation to build out, this is something we could put into productive use right now.” Work on the band is moving quickly, especially in Europe, Syzmanski said. “We’re hopeful that you could have Wi-Fi 6 in 6 GHz in Europe before Christmas,” he said. The U.S. is on a different track and will move at its own pace, he said.

“We’re very encouraged by the progress,” said Chuck Lukaszewski, Hewlett Packard Enterprise vice president-wireless strategy and standards. “The U.S. and Europe are leading in different ways.” But he said the Trump administration has been very engaged.

Industry is “at a pivot point,” moving to 5G from 4G to and to Wi-Fi 6 from Wi-Fi 5, said Mary Brown, Cisco director-government affairs. “Users want more,” she said. “They want a lot more, a lot more video conferencing, a lot more use of our smartphones.” A lot of the traffic is video, which keeps getting more “bandwidth intensive,” she said. Brown said 5G won’t mean less use of Wi-Fi. “It’s exactly the opposite,” she said. “As we get more powerful devices into our hands we’re going to be using unlicensed more.”

Facebook has also been focused on the 6 GHz band, said Daniel Rabinovitsj, vice president. “We view unlicensed spectrum as essential fuel to basically power the next 10 years of broadband,” he said. The 6 GHz band could build on unlicensed use in the 5 GHz band, he said: “There’s not one magic solution that’s going to unlock productivity for everybody.”

The C band is making spectrum seem “really sexy,” said Preston Marshall, Google principle wireless architect. While 6 GHz is a discussion between two sets of engineers, “this one is all about politicians, money and just a little bit of spectrum engineering,” he said. A Google search for C band turned up 2 million entries, he said.

C Spire sees the CBRS band as providing “additional opportunistic capacity,” said Ivy Kelly, technology strategist. “For a fixed wireless play does it fill another niche for us?” she asked. Industry will have to figure out how to make the best use of the shared band, Kelly said.

CBRS could help solve connectivity issues at many locations, especially rural areas, said Derek Peterson, Boingo Wireless chief technology officer. There are lots of venues that host events numerous times every year, but not enough to justify a carrier-grade facility, he said. CBRS could fill holes. CBRS also offers the possibility of using licensed and unlicensed bands together, Peterson said.