Powering next-gen WiFi and broadband for all

India needs the full 6 GHz band unlicensed to leverage the power of wireless connectivity, empower communities, and transform the country’s digital landscape

The assignment of an increased quantum of suitable unlicensed spectrum for WiFi has become a driving force for digital movement around the world. The adoption of established modern WiFi technologies such as WiFi 6E makes possible high-quality broadband that matches 5G capabilities while remaining affordable for the common man. This is essential with the insatiable hunger for modern wireless services that aid every aspect of day-to-day living, including healthcare, education, work and logistics. The target in all major countries is now to have a one-gigabit broadband connection in every household which can be used for access to immersive cloud-based services including HD video, gaming and augmented/virtual reality.

In this scenario, there is, naturally, heightened priority in all major regimes to make available the widest contiguous frequency range of 1200 MHz in the 6 GHz band (5.925 GHz—7.125 GHz) for WiFi to boost broadband connectivity, R&D and innovation. With its growth targets and digital ambitions, India naturally has to take a leadership position in this critical area.

IS IT REASONABLE FOR 5G TO DEMAND 6 GHZ?

While global cellular data continues to grow to fuel wireless services, the rate of growth is no longer skyrocketing and has actually slowed down from more than 90% in 2018 to 34% in 2021 and further to about 22% in 2022, according to Analysys Mason. Data usage per mobile broadband subscription in the OECD countries grew a modest 17% in 2022, compared to an average annual growth rate of 29% between 2017 and 2021. In India too, the growth rate has fallen from 80% in 2018 to 10% in 2023. The reason for reviewing the data growth levels is to help assess the requirement of the basic resource of spectrum to cater to mobile data. The softened growth levels imply less pressure for augmentation of the spectrum.

"Allocating the complete 6 GHz band for licence-exempt access including WiFi will help reduce the environmental footprint of telecom networks."

In the above context, it is of interest to examine the availability of spectrum for the current mobile standard of 5G. A study by Plum Consulting found that no country has assigned all the available spectrum to mobile networks, with the majority allocating less than 60% of the spectrum identified for IMT/5G. Even most of the 5G use cases that are running as of today are on the 4G/LTE network, thereby underscoring the point that even those 5G spectrum bands that have been allocated are not being adequately utilised (see box Spectrum Bands below 7GHz).

The scenario in India is more or less aligned with the global situation, where the identified spectrum bands for IMT have yet to be fully assigned by each country’s administration. Even amongst those bands which have been assigned, all the bands have yet to be allocated and those that have been allocated, are yet to be optimally utilised by the telecom operators. However, the cellular lobby continues to push for more new spectrum bands to be identified for IMT/5G services, which are either being already used by incumbents or could be gainfully utilised by other wireless technologies such as WiFi and satellite.

No country has assigned all the available spectrum to mobile networks, with the majority allocating less than 60% of the spectrum identified for IMT/5G.

The Plum report makes the following key observations.

• Instead of demanding more spectrum to be identified for IMT/5G in new spectrum bands that are already being used by incumbents, regulators and governments should be encouraged to complete the allocation of the assigned spectrum bands to the IMT/5G operators. This would enable mobile networks to get at least large amounts of harmonised spectrum, for which a global ecosystem is already available.

• Technology upgrades and densification, including the use of mmWave and small cells, will play an important role in enabling mobile operators to meet future demand for mobile data, both up to 2030 and beyond.

• The spectrum is allocated nationally but is not used nationally. Operators use mmWave and even 3400 MHz bands in urban areas where population density is higher. To meet the demand in such areas, alternative mechanisms such as WiFi offload, fibre connections or peer-to-peer technologies can be used to meet capacity constraints without any need for additional spectrum.

• Spectrum refarming in the lower spectrum bands (below 3 GHz) and utilisation of unused but assigned and allocated mmWave bands would help in better spectrum management for IMT/5G services and applications. This would enable other wireless technologies such as WiFi and satellite to make more efficient use of new spectrum bands, viz., 6 GHz.

The 6 GHz spectrum band, which is currently being demanded by the IMT/5G lobby, has already seen significant development of the WiFi ecosystem with the availability of WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 devices which work exclusively in this band and new high bandwidth applications and use cases, viz., AR/VR/MR already being developed in this band. On the other hand, there is no development of the IMT ecosystem in this band anywhere in the world.

THE SUSTAINABILITY ADVANTAGE

Air pollution is the world’s top threat to public health, responsible for reducing average life expectancy by 2.3 years worldwide, according to a recently published report by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute. According to this report, India’s population is disproportionally impacted by air pollution. In considering the future of the 6 GHz frequency band, India’s frequency spectrum regulators have a real opportunity to bring about a positive change with significant reductions in CO2 emissions.

A new analysis provides a quantifiable impact assessment of the IMT or WiFi operations in the 6.425-7.125 GHz frequency band and their effect on greenhouse gas emissions. It is already well established that WiFi technology excels in low-power, cognitive radio techniques including spectrum sensing, spectrum sharing and adaptive transmission. These techniques enable WiFi to significantly outperform IMT in energy efficiency.

But in deciding on the best use of the 6 GHz band, India’s regulators may wish to consider the fact that the vast majority of connectivity, i.e., up to 80% of all data traffic – even traffic on mobile devices – occurs indoors. From video streaming, video calls or cloud-based distributed computing to Artificial Intelligence or industrial automation, indoor connectivity use cases predominate.

The growing demand for indoor connectivity is confirmed by the fact that, despite high installation costs, most countries are prioritising fibre broadband capabilities. These broadband deployments require corresponding local area wireless connectivity, the WiFi, for distribution to end users because most use cases and devices are not equipped to connect to broadband, for example, fibre terminals. This necessary capability cannot be achieved without sufficient spectrum for WiFi.

In contrast, from the energy conservation perspective, the 5G/IMT networks are highly inefficient in providing indoor connectivity. The 5G/IMT signals must blast through building walls or windows, expending high levels of transmit power just to reach end users. Similarly, signals from indoor 5G/IMT user devices to an outdoor base station use a disproportionate amount of energy just to overcome obstacles and distances in the propagation path, necessitating frequent recharge cycles, increased battery wear and additional electronic waste.

This wasteful use of energy is exacerbated by the eco-centric building construction which adds more insulation to walls and windows – further blocking outdoor-to-indoor 5G/IMT signals. In contrast, energy used by WiFi devices to communicate with nearby access points is far less than that needed for distant 5G/IMT base stations.

According to a new study by WIK-Consult, fibre and WiFi networks are 2.5x more energy efficient per megabyte transmitted than 5G cellular networks. WIK-Consult estimates that precluding WiFi access to the 6.425-7.125 GHz will lead to congestion and degradation in the fiber and WiFi performance, driving a 15% increase in data traffic over mobile networks. The increased reliance on mobile networks, in turn, will result in 16% higher energy consumption, which would lead to 3.2 megatonnes of additional CO2 emissions in Europe per year by 2030. Although the WIK-Consult study did not analyse other regions, its findings and conclusions are consistent and applicable worldwide.

This report clearly shows that WiFi access to the 6.425-7.125 GHz band will enable greater use of fiber/WiFi (rather than 5G/IMT) to deliver gigabit connectivity, which will reduce the environmental footprint of telecom networks and thereby support national efforts to advance sustainability, energy conservation and climate-neutral goals.

5G/IMT networks cannot co-exist with incumbent services in the 6.425 to 7.125 GHz frequency band or deliver commercially viable services.

According to the report, allocating the complete 6 GHz band for license-exempt access including WiFi helps reduce energy consumption and the environmental footprint of telecom networks globally.

India, with its positive commitments in COP26 as well as its national goal of ‘Broadband for All’, direly needs such savings. We need the full 1200 MHz of 6 GHz as an unlicensed spectrum.

Regardless of industry positions, it is eminently clear that the most feasible long-term path for use of the 6 GHz band is unlicensed use for primarily indoor outdoor-indoor WiFi + FS + FSS. The Government of India and the TRAI should facilitate this usage expeditiously to leverage the power of wireless connectivity to transform the country’s digital landscape and empower communities.

TV Ramachandran

The author is the President of Broadband India Forum.

Views are personal.

Research inputs by Debashish Bhattacharya.

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