By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Dell’Oro forecasts nearly 15% year-over-year growth for enterprise WLAN in 2025
This year has been a tough for enterprise Wi-Fi but thankfully 2025 looks a lot better. Analyst Mauricio Sanchez of Dell’Oro now forecasts close to 15% growth for the WLAN enterpris segment year-on-year for 2025. That’s a 360 degree reversal from minus around 15% in 2024, Dell’Oro reports.
“The rise in adoption of AI-driven workloads, 5G, Wi-Fi 7, and advanced security frameworks like SASE will drive growth across the network infrastructure landscape. Furthermore, as inflation and interest rates decrease, enterprises will benefit from improved capital availability, providing further tailwinds for market growth,” Mauricio Sanchez says in this new blog entry.
FCC proposes expanding 6 GHz spectrum for VLP Wi-Fi
It has been more than three years since the FCC approved unlicensed VLP (Very Low Power) Wi-Fi operations in the 6 GHz band – and now finally, Chairwoman Rosenworcel is proposing that the VLP rules be expanded to include operations within 350 MHz of spectrum in the U-NII-6 (6.425-6.525 GHz) and U-NII-8 (6.875-7.125 GHz) portions of the 6 GHz band.
The FCC is proposing that the same power levels and technical/operational protections as approved for the U-NII-5 (5.925-6.425 GHz) and U-NII-7 (6.525-6.875 GHz) bands apply to the new bands. “These VLP devices would have no restriction as to where they may operate, nor would they be required to operate under the control of an automatic frequency coordination system,” the FCC says.
According to Wi-Fi Alliance the expansion “is essential for supporting next-generation innovations in areas like smart homes, Internet of Things (IoT), telemedicine, and AR/VR.” AR device tethering to smartphones is a good example of a short-range VLP use case, said Wi-Fi Alliance President & CEO Kevin Robinson in a recent LinkedIn post here. VLP Wi-Fi may also be very useful for example for automotive use cases. The FCC Chairwoman’s full statement can be found here.
Juniper releases its first Wi-Fi 7 AP
Juniper this week released its first Wi-Fi 7 AP – a 4 x 4 four-radio, tri-band flagship AP dubbed AP47. Juniper says the AP will deliver maximum data rates of 11528 Mbps in the 6 GHz band, 5764 Mbps in the 5 GHz band, and 1376 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz band. The new AP will run on the Juniper Mist Cloud architecture, which includes the AI-driven Marvis™ virtual network assistant. For all the details on the new AP read here.
6 GHz Wi-Fi comes to Kazakhstan & (soon) Nigeria
Chris Szymanski, Director Product Management & Technology Strategy at Broadcom, reports that Kazakhstan is opening its full 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi. “Kazakhstan has taken a major step towards advancing connectivity by fully opening the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi. This decision empowers both individuals and businesses with faster, more reliable connectivity, setting the stage for unprecedented levels of digital innovation. Countries that have already opened the entire 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi are seeing significant socioeconomic benefits, and now Kazakhstan is poised to harness this potential,” Chris Szymanski writes in this Wi-Fi industry newsletter on LinkedIn.
Meanwhile the Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC) has announced plans to deploy the 6G spectrum in Nigeria to enhance access to Wi-Fi technology, according to this news report by Broadcast Media Africa. Nigeria is Africa’s most populous nation with an estimated 228 million inhabitants.
/Claus.
