By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Fibre is rolling out across Europe at impressive rates with more than 244 million homes passed at the end of 2023, which is close to 70% coverage. With FTTH subscribers growing by the millions per year, Europe is getting pretty much everything right when it comes to fibre. But the same cannot be said about adoption of the latest Wi-Fi standards across Europe. We sat down with Wi-Fi Alliance President & CEO Kevin Robinson for a talk about what the Wi-Fi industry can do to get Europeans better connected.
Last month’s bombshell research report from OOKLA revealed how legacy home gateways dominate the European broadband scene: CPEs capable of only Wi-Fi 4 or Wi-Fi 5 connectivity represent more than 70% of the installed base, OOKLA says. The findings fly in the face of Europe’s highly successful introduction of fibre-based home services, with millions more Europeans choosing fibre every year. The paradox is that poor Wi-Fi ends up costing operators more.
“It is becoming increasingly clear that a better user experience drives increased profitability. The latest Wi-Fi standards – such as Wi-Fi 7 leveraging the 6 GHz band – enable much faster and more reliable Wi-Fi connectivity. While next-generation CPEs may come with higher upfront deployment costs, they deliver substantial long-term benefits, including improved customer satisfaction, reduced churn, and lower customer service costs. Rapid Wi-Fi 7 adoption means better business for ISPs,” Kevin Robinson says.
He also says that experiences from North America demonstrate how the most successful operators strategically use the optimal mix of access technologies and not least all available spectrum – including 6 GHz – to their maximum benefit. “MVNOs like Xfinity Mobile now run 90% of mobile phone traffic over their own Wi-Fi networks, and indoor performance is usually better on Wi-Fi than on cellular. This use of complementary technologies delivers on the promise of an excellent user experience in a more cost-effective way,” he says.
“One of the key factors hindering broader adoption of new Wi-Fi standards in Europe is the ongoing uncertainty surrounding 6 GHz regulation. While North America has had clear rules for 6 GHz Wi-Fi in place for years, Europe continues to deliberate the bands future. With no imminent decision in sight, ISPs may understandably be hesitant to fully commit to 6 GHz deployments, waiting for regulators to provide much-needed clarity,” Kevin Robinson says. As a result, European consumers have benefitted much less from the latest 6 GHz enabled Wi-Fi than consumers in the US, for example.
“Any Wi-Fi equipment shipping to Europe that is not certified for full-band operation may slow adoption of new Wi-Fi standards as operators wrestle with the need to support these constrained devices once the remaining spectrum becomes available. That is detrimental to both operators and consumers, and it highlights the urgent need for regulatory certainty. Encouragingly, Ofcom has recently taken the lead in proposing a potential path forward for enabling full 6 GHz band low-power indoor Wi-Fi operation—possibly even this year—while the details of 6 GHz spectrum sharing are being addressed,” he says.
Meanwhile, Kevin Robinson points out that the Wi-Fi industry in recent years has pivoted away from solely hiking speeds and feeds and is now focusing strongly on reliability. “Wi-Fi 7 is already a big leap forward when it comes to reliable Wi-Fi, combining features such as Multi-Link Operation with excellent use of clean spectrum in the 6 GHz band. That alone delivers a much better experience. Further, work on the future Wi-Fi 8 standard is fully focused on improving reliability,” he says.
To the best of WiFi NOW’s knowledge only the following major operators have thus far launched Wi-Fi 7 services in Europe: Bouygues Telecom (France), Free (France), Swisscom (Switzerland), Iliad (Italy), and EE (UK). Most analysts expect many more Wi-Fi 7 service launches to happen this year. For more on Ofcom’s recent consultation on the 6 GHz band also read here.
Kevin Robinson will be speaking at the FTTH Council Europe’s conference in Amsterdam on March 25-27. Also: For more on Ofcom’s recent 6 GHz consultation read here.
/Claus.
