New Wi-Fi technology does not require 6 GHz band, says Qualcomm

At a time when the telcos and broadband companies are at loggerheads over allocation of 6 GHz spectrum band, semiconductor and software company Qualcomm said the country should switch to the latest WiFi 7 technology instead of adopting the WiFi 6E technology given the issue of spectrum is not resolved yet.

The reason for choosing the Wi-Fi 7 technology will not require the 6 GHz band to operate and can utilise other spectrum bands to provide better performance.

WiFi 7 is the latest technology after 6E that maximises overall capacity, reduces latency and increases speed. Even as the technology is about three to four months away to be certified, Qualcomm said Wi-Fi 7 can reduce latency up to 60% compared to Wi-Fi 6.

‘At this point in time, adoption of Wi-Fi 6E in India would be a waste of time and resources given the 6 GHz spectrum is not clearly allocated,’ said Rahul Patel, senior vice president and general manager of connectivity, broadband and networking at Qualcomm.

The 6 GHz band that includes the spectrum in the range of 5.9-7.1 GHz, has the potential to carry high speed data and is globally used for offering Wi-Fi services.

According to Patel, the industry can move to Wi-Fi 7 independent of the decision by the government with regard to 6 GHz band allocation. It will be like future proofing the deployment. Untill 6 GHz is not available, WiFi 7 will outperform every prior generation of WiFi, he added.

The argument is crucial in the sense that telcos want the government to allocate the 6 GHz band for 5G, whereas the broadband companies want the whole or part of the spectrum band to be delicensed to improve WiFi services. In case of a switch to WiFi 7, the debate around allocation of such spectrum might lose relevance. Experts, however, said 6 GHz band will help WiFi 7 to enhance its performance given the availability of spectrum in bands like 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz is less.

Qualcomm said it has also developed some unique hardware and software features in WiFi 7 that will make it independent of the 6 GHz band. Just like wireless technologies, the technology supports carriage aggregation, meaning that it won’t be stuck to a single frequency but use a mix of available spectrum frequencies to provide a solution.

‘What Wi-Fi 7 also brings to the table with the active function capability is the ability to notch a portion of the band wherein some congestion and interference has happened, and use the rest of the band to service,’ said Ganesh Swaminathan, vice president and general manager, wireless infrastructure and networks at Qualcomm.

In older WiFi technologies, if any congestion happens, internet services are disrupted.

‘More than 350 products will be shipped with Wi-Fi 7 by the first half of 2024,’ Patel said, adding that the companies have already started ordering equipments with WiFi 7 capabilities.