By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
It has been a long time coming but finally this week, the Government of India made the decision to allocate the lower 6 GHz band to unlicensed operation. That means perhaps a couple hundred million 6 GHz Wi-Fi routers and client devices will be on their way to the world’s most populous nation within the next couple of years, says President of ITU-APT India, Bharat Bhatia, one of the most ardent proponents of the new rules.
Ever since the FCC made its 6 GHz decision in April of 2019, proponents of 6 GHz Wi-Fi for India have been working tirelessly to bring about a similar Wi-Fi connectivity revolution for the 1.4 billion pop subcontinent. And then last week, it finally happened: The Government of India issued draft regulation for allocation of the lower 6 GHz band to unlicensed use, meaning Wi-Fi. This means India will become by far the largest 6 GHz Wi-Fi market (by population) in the world.
The decision is an enormous victory for connectivity in India, says President of ITU-APT India, Bharat Bhatia. “We expect this to unleash hugely improved connectivity for perhaps 150 million homes and business over the next few years. Add to this the opportunity to supply 6 GHz equipment to millions of locations. This will be important to both Indian business and overseas suppliers,” he says.
Although the new regulation is still formally in draft form awaiting public comment, Bharat Bhatia says the likelihood of the decision changing is slim to none. The final order is likely to be issued by the Indian regulator towards the end of June, he says. He is particularly excited about 6 GHz solving one of the most difficult and persistent connectivity problems commonly found across India: Delivering extreme high-density connectivity.
“In India we commonly have high-density usage conditions that are rarely seen in most other countries, meaning many times the number of users per square meter when compared for example to Europe or the USA. The new 6 GHz band will go a long way in providing reliable Wi-Fi connectivity for Indian businesses and homes, where it was hardly possible in the past,” he says. Bharat Bhatia, the ITU-APT, and its members have been advocating for 6 GHz Wi-Fi since 2019.
Credit also goes to Broadband India Forum for contributing strongly to the positive outcome, ITU-APT says. And at WiFi NOW we’re proud to have made at least a small contribution to the outcome by hosting a very well attended special event on 6 GHz for India back in September of 2020 (read more here)
The decision will also strongly impact the ability of fiber networks to finally deliver connectivity capacity to end users. “In this case, we will see the availability of much more end-user Wi-Fi capacity and speed drive up the relevance of fibre networks and new fibre deployment. This knock-on effect will also be significant and help develop Indian fibre-infrastructure in a positive direction,” he says. Bharat Bhatia says he is also very bullish on new 6 GHz Wi-Fi networks fostering opportunities in wireless high-speed gaming for the Indian mass market.
Bharat Bhatia expects the final rules for 6 GHz Wi-Fi in India to mirror those of the FCC, meaning operations will be limited to indoors and according to power spectral density. This also means that India’s 6 GHz Wi-Fi will operate under more advantageous rules than in Europe, for example.
But India’s journey towards 6 GHz Wi-Fi has not been without opposition. Like everywhere else, the mobile industry is powerful in India and now appears to have secured the upper part of the 6 GHz for IMT use. While this may be seen as a victory for mobile, many countries have yet to decide how to allocate the top 6 GHz band, which leaves India either ahead of the pack or perhaps somewhat alone with that decision. At this time there’s little mobile industry ecosystem support for 6 GHz equipment and auctions of the band – such as in Hong Kong – have largely failed.
However, India still plans to auction at least 300 MHz of spectrum in the upper 6GHz band for mobile operators later this year, Bharat Bhatia says. ITU-APT will be conducting a major “Wi-Fi in 6 GHz” event on World Wi-Fi Day June 19th at Le Meridien Hotel in New Delhi in order to facilitate the smooth entry of India into the 6 GHz ecosystem. For registration and more information read here.
/Claus.
Correction: A previous version of this story cited India as ‘the world’s second-most populous nation’. This is incorrect. India is indeed the world’s most populous nation. Thanks to a vigilant reader for pointing this out.
