By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
ABI Research forecasts 100 million Wi-Fi HaLow devices by 2029
The Wi-Fi HaLow ecosystem has been evolving fast – and now the analysts from ABI Research predict an impressive 100 million Wi-Fi HaLow devices to be operational by 2029. The market is “expected to surge from several million Wi-Fi HaLow-enabled devices in 2024 to over 100 million by 2029. This dramatic growth is driven by its ability to address key connectivity challenges in various industries, including smart home automation, smart building management, connected agriculture, industrial IoT, and beyond,” ABI Research says in this news release. WiFi NOW will be conducting the world’s first Wi-Fi HaLow Global Summit on April 28th at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California.
Dell’Oro: Wi-Fi industry returns to growth
The latest broadband access and home networking equipment market report from Dell’Oro says the FWA Access CPE market (which is Wi-Fi-enabled) continues to grow, specifically a rate 19% year-on-year for third quarter 2024. This is its fifth consecutive quarter of growth, Dell’Oro says. Add to this that PON equipment was up 6% year-on-year. Wi-Fi 7 residential router shipments are up a staggering nearly 6000% (given its low start) driven in large part by dual-band (non-6 GHz) Wi-Fi 7 routers being sold as part of fiber-to-the-room upgrades in China, Dell’Oro says. More information here.
Meanwhile market news for the enteprise WLAN segment is even better. Enterprise WLAN revenues grew quarter-on-quarter for the second quarter in a row, landing at US$2.3 billion for 3Q2024. Shipments of Wi-Fi 7-capable equipment grew 69% from 2Q to 3Q 2024, Dell’Oro says. The company predicts that WLAN revenues will see ‘significant’ year-on-year market growth in 4Q2024. For more also read here.
IDC pegs enterprise WLAN revenues at US$2.5 billion for the quarter
IDC’s latest enterprise WLAN market numbers are similar to Dell’Oro’s above. IDC says the WLAN enterprise market grew 5.8% quarter-on-quarter for 3Q2024, reaching US$2.5 billion. “This continued growth indicates that the market’s supply and demand dynamics are stabilising after two years of volatility,” IDC says. In the 3Q2024 shipments of Wi-Fi 6E equipment represented more than 30% of the market while Wi-Fi 7 still makes up less than 5% of revenues. Cisco still commands by far the largest enterprise WLAN market share at 41.6%.
IDC also predicts that 807.5 million 6 GHz Wi-Fi devices will ship in 2024, up 66% compared to 2023. Read more here.
Morse Micro released ‘HalowLink 1’ reference-designed HaLow AP
Want to experience Wi-Fi HaLow with equipment from (probably) the world’s leading HaLow chipset maker? Now you can. Last week Morse Micro released a reference design for Wi-Fi HaLow APs dubbed ‘HaLowLink 1’. The new unit is based on the AzureWave AW-HM593 module, which is powered by Morse Micro’s Wi-Fi CERTIFIED HaLow™ MM6108 chipset. Also supporting regular 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi, this versatile device can be used as a Wi-Fi HaLow AP, connects legacy Wi-Fi devices to a HaLow network, and even acts as a long-range poin-to-point radio link. Find the full HaLow Link 1 user guide here.
FCC opens entire 6 GHz band to Very Low Power operations
It has been a long time coming but finally the FCC has opened the entire 6 GHz band to VLP operation. The FCC’s notice of ‘Report and Order’ – which is FCC-talk for new regulation coming into force – was released on December 11 and is expected to open up for plenty of new applications in wearables, untethered AR/VR, in-car connectivity, and more. The FCC says that “these VLP devices will have no restriction on locations where they may operate and will not be required to operate under the control of an automatic frequency coordination system,” which means that they can be used freely indoors and out as long as they comply with VLP limits. Read more here.
FCC grants building entry loss (BEL) waiver for AFC calculations
Yes it’s a little complicated but what this basically means is that the FCC will allow ‘building entry loss’ (BEL) to be included in AFC calculations when the APs in question are located indoors. This is a small but important change in how AFCs are managed: By including BEL into calculations this will likely mean that AFC systems will yield more available operational frequencies for indoor standard power APs (in some cases). The logic is of course the walls will attenuate standard power Wi-Fi signals coming from the indoors and that indoor APs are therefore less likely to interfere with anyone else using the bands outdoors. The waiver was requested by the Wi-Fi Alliance and the FCC’s document can be found here.
Australia & UAE arrive at strange decisions regarding the 6 GHz band
Australian telecoms regulators (ACMA) has decided that the upper 6 GHz band (6425–7125 MHz) is to be shared between Wi-Fi and mobile services. According to Telecompaper: “ACMA said given the lack of maturity of mobile equipment in 6 GHz and the relative maturity of Wi-Fi equipment, best use of the band will be achieved by making arrangements for both services on a frequency split basis – the hybrid option.” No word on how such a ‘hybrid option’ might work. ACMA’s decision is arguably odd given that no such ‘hybrid’ decision has been made by any other jurisdiction, which means that nobody knows if it will ever be commercially feasible for the mobile industry to develop ‘hybrid’ network technology.
Meanwhile the UAE’s regulator TDRA has opted to allocate the entire 6 GHz band to IMT (mobile) as – as far as we know – the first country to do so. Unless this creates a precedent for a large number of other countries to follow (which is unlikely given current 6 GHz allocations), UAE may find that the band is less than attractive for mobile operators. Operators may also find it challenging to source mobil vendors willing to produce 6 GHz IMT network equipment (and phones) for a highly restricted market.
Notre Dame Stadium lights up world’s first outdoor Wi-Fi 6E network
Indiana’s University of Notre Dame has lit up the world’s first outdoor stadium Wi-Fi 6E network, according to this news report. Famous as the home of its ‘Fighting Irish’ football team, the stadium seats up to 80,000 fans. They will now be better connected than any other sports fans on the planet. The use of 6 GHz in outdoor stadiums requires AFC operation, which has somewhat delayed initial network launches. The network is provided by HPE Aruba Networks and will be used for the first time during Notre Dame’s first round college playoff matchup on Friday December 20th.
/Claus.
