CES Panel: Defending Wi-Fi in 6 GHz at WRC Was Big Win for U.S.

The U.S. scored an important win for Wi-Fi at the recent World Radiocommunication Conference, beating back a move to harmonize the upper 6 GHz band for 5G, speakers said during a CES discussion of unlicensed spectrum late Thursday. Officials said restoration of FCC auction authority is critical, but when Congress will act remains uncertain.

The 6 GHz band was the U.S.’s top priority going into the WRC and the concept of splitting the band in half was a top priority for China, said Phil Murphy, NTIA senior adviser. “A lot of the companies that are really leading the way on Wi-Fi are U.S. based,” he noted. The administration recognizes the benefits of leading the world in Wi-Fi and other technology, he added.

“Wi-Fi is a great example of a technology that really democratizes access,” Murphy said. “That’s one of the real values that was expressed” when 6 GHz was made the top priority at WRC, he said.

Under decisions made at WRC, countries can designate 6 GHz an unlicensed band or use it in another way, said Mary Brown, an adviser to WifiForward and a former Cisco executive. “It’s a long slog,” she said: “It’s not over yet. We’re barely beginning on the 6 GHz front, but we’ll get there.”

Wi-Fi is “a global technology,” with 3.8 billion Wi-Fi chips shipped last year and even more expected in 2024, Brown said. The question is how to convince more than 200 countries which spectrum bands should be used for Wi-Fi, she said: “The short answer is you have to go talk to them all and get them to agree.”

One of the biggest developments at CES was the launch of Wi-Fi 7, which is more efficient, reliable and secure than the previous generation, Brown said. It also requires 320 MHz-wide channels “and that’s a lot of spectrum for one channel to use,” she said. Without 6 GHz, Wi-Fi 7 isn’t possible, she added.

We are headed into a 10 Gbps future and planning for 25 Gbps, Brown said. “It’s a very big challenge” for the Wi-Fi industry “to make sure they’re engineering for that future.”

House Communications Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., believes wireless is the only realistic option for providing coverage in the most remote areas, said Kate O'Connor, chief counsel of the House Communications Subcommittee. McMorris has made clear repeatedly to NTIA that the broadband, equity, access and deployment program should be “technology neutral” and not favor wired over wireless technologies, O’Connor said.

Commerce Republicans were generally pleased with the national spectrum strategy’s goals of identifying bands for reallocation, O’Connor said. “It takes time, but you constantly have to be pushing the agencies … to be looking at ways to be more efficient with their spectrum,” she said.

Auction Authority

McMorris is also committed to restoring FCC auction authority, O’Connor said. When Congress will act is “the million dollar question” but discussions continue, she said. The lawmaker also believes Congress should push agencies to take a “more aggressive approach” in making additional spectrum available for licensed use, she said. “Our members understand the value of both licensed and unlicensed spectrum -- they both have very important purposes,” O'Connor said.

There is probably spectrum the FCC has “right now” that it could auction once its authority is restored, Murphy said. NTIA is asking questions and working with federal users to get them to look more closely at how they allocate spectrum with a goal of greater efficiency, he said. “We’re always thinking about that,” he said.

“Spectrum policy is not stagnant, and spectrum usage is not stagnant,” O’Connor said. “Many times” federal agencies “act like it is,” she said: “That is a problem that we continue to face over and over again.” Congress understands that NTIA is also pushing the agencies, she said.

Michael Fasulo, a founder of startup PhotonFi, which uses light-based wireless Li-Fi technology to provide a “secure” alternative to Wi-Fi, said it’s important for the U.S. to lead in technology. The U.S. is “already behind" on Li-Fi, "it’s already deployed in Europe,” he said.

Li-Fi offers advantages because Wi-Fi is congested and has security issues, said Fasulo, former president of Sony Electronics. He noted that on the CES show floor all the connected products are wired because of spectrum congestion. If Wi-Fi and Li-Fi “complement each other, why not embrace them both?”

Fasulo said it’s an important goal to connect the unconnected, but “it doesn’t solve the congestion problem -- it actually makes it worse.”