The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA), the body leading development of next generation Wi-Fi services, says that it supports the decision by the FCC to open up the 6GHz frequency band for use by Wi-Fi 6 technology.
It declared the release of the spectrum would bring radical change for the Wi-Fi industry in terms of service speed, hyper low latency and more importantly, network capacity.
“Extending Wi-Fi into the 6GHz spectrum band can provide more Wi-Fi capacity than all the other bands put together,” WBA CEO Tiago Rodrigues explained. “What’s more, using Wi-Fi 6 technology in the extended band (also known as Wi-Fi 6E) will deliver higher speeds, low latency and service levels that are equivalent to 5G networks and be able to support the widespread, low-cost, use of advanced business, industrial and consumer applications. In terms of the capability and capacity of networks, Wi-Fi 6E, will rewrite the rules of what is possible,” Rodrigues added.
The WBA confirmed that its early trials of Wi-Fi 6E achieved speeds of 2Gbps as well as consistent two-millisecond low latency connections, and a major step-up from current Wi-Fi technology. Carried out in San Jose, California, by WBA member companies Broadcom and Intel, the trials demonstrated that Wi-Fi 6E can meet the needs of industrial and consumer applications of virtual and augmented reality technology.
The WBA has been leading a series of successful Wi-Fi 6 trials across different verticals including Industry 4.0, residential, education, transportation hubs, sports stadiums etc. and these are now extending to Wi-Fi 6E and additional verticals. WBA member and partner companies taking part in the trials include Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company, Boingo Networks, Broadcom, Cable Labs, Cisco, Comcast, GlobalReach Technology, Intel and SK Telecom.
