DoT likely to pass on tech industry call for more 6 GHz band for WiFi

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) is not looking at delicensing more spectrum in the 6 GHz band that the tech industry has been demanding, as it believes enough airwaves have already been made available to take care of WiFi requirements.

But DoT is open to a marginal increase in the transmit power requirements for outdoor WiFi devices, which can be done by using 6 Ghz airwaves, partially accepting the industry’s request, government officials aware of the matter told ET. But this too will be allowed only if such a change does not lead to interference with existing applications or satellite operations, particularly defence-related functions, they said, asking not to be named.

“We have received comments from stakeholders regarding the delicensing of the lower 6 GHz band. We will notify the rules soon but more spectrum in the band won’t be delicensed,” said an official.


Communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia recently announced that the government would come out with rules for the 6 GHz band before August 15.

DoT in May had delicensed 500 MHz spectrum in the 6 GHz band for WiFi and low-power wireless equipment requirements. Officials in the department feel that the intent for delicensing or allocating spectrum without auction in the band was to develop new applications, particularly those that work in low- and very-low-power systems.

Already around 700 MHz spectrum is available for WiFi use in 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz bands. As per experts, the additional 6 GHz spectrum can be used alongside the existing WiFi airwaves to get better speeds and capacity.

The Broadband India Forum (BIF), which counts Amazon, Google, Meta, Qualcomm and Netflix among its members, had sought an additional delicensing of 160 MHz in the band to take the total quantum to 660 MHz, so that the complete benefits of the 6 GHz spectrum could be utilised.

“This would ensure that at least two users could get 320 MHz wide channels simultaneously for high-speed applications and data usage and would also ensure that any combination of channel bandwidths of 320, 160 and 80 MHz could be used for deployment of advanced Wi-Fi technologies viz. Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7,” the BIF had said in a memorandum to the government.

The government, however, feels it won’t be possible to delicense more than 500 MHz in the band as the rest could be utilised for mobility services, particularly 5G and 6G technologies.

Earlier, the entire telecom industry was unanimously seeking the full 1200 MHz spectrum in the 6 GHz band for mobile use, but after the government delicensed 500 MHz, telecom market leader Reliance Jio changed its stance and supported the government’s move. It also sought to increase the power for outdoor WiFi devices, aligning with the tech industry. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, on the other hand, are seeking DoT to undertake more deliberations on the issue before taking a final call on the delicensing.

Experts said the 6 GHz band can offer data speeds of up to 9.6 gigabits per second (Gbps), against 1.3 Gbps in the 5 GHz band and 600 megabit per second (Mbps) in the 2.4 GHz band. More than 84 countries, including the US, UK and South Korea, have delicensed the 6 GHz band for WiFi services.