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Technology companies have made a fresh pitch to the telecom ministry to reconsider its decision to auction the 6GHz WiFi band (5925–7125 MHz) to telecom operators, saying delays in delicensing these airwaves is causing an annual loss of Rs 12.7 lakh crore to the Indian exchequer. In a letter to communications minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, dated April 11, industry body Broadband India Forum (BIF) said that the much-coveted frequency is critical for digital experiences through gadgets such as Meta Ray Ban Smart Glasses and Sony PS5, AR/VR headsets.
BIF counts tech firms such as Meta, Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Cisco, as well as satellite companies like OneWeb, Tata Nelco , Hughes, Inmarsat among its key members. Advt “More than 84 countries have already opened up part or all of the 6 GHz band. India risks falling behind,” BIF said, pointing out that routers and consumer devices such as Wi-Fi 6E/7 gadgets and AR/VR headsets already support the band globally but remain underutilised domestically due to policy inertia.
It argued that more than 80% of internet data in India is consumed indoors where 5G in the 3.5 GHz band faces issues such as reduction in signal strength and, therefore, Wi-Fi 6E/7 in the 6 GHz band is the only scalable, cost-effective solution. The latest effort by tech companies comes a few months after the government, in January, said it had decided to auction 6GHz spectrum to telcos, instead of making it available for unlicensed use by tech companies.
Unlicensed spectrum can be allocated without auction. The government decision was soon followed by global mobile network standards body GSMA, in February, calling on the Department of Telecommunications to include 6GHz frequency in the next spectrum auctions. But BIF has now sought an urgent meeting with Scindia to underscore the strategic, economic and technological imperatives of opening up the band for unlicensed use.
According to an independent economic study by Columbia University’s Raúl L. Katz commissioned by the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, the cumulative economic value of delicensing the 6 GHz band is estimated to be $4.03 trillion (Rs 34.
25 lakh crore). Advt This value comes from a combination of productivity gains, consumer surplus and mobile network cost savings driven by fixed wireless broadband and Wi-Fi offload, BIF said. The United States’ Federal Communications Commission has projected economic benefit of more than $150 billion over 10 years by delicensing the full 6 GHz band.
Calling the move a “non-negotiable national priority”, BIF urged the government to immediately open at least 660 MHz, akin to Australia’s approach, to allow two simultaneous 320 MHz channels, a technical requirement for high-throughput applications. “The ecosystem is already ready; what’s missing is policy clarity,” BIF president TV Ramachandran said in the letter. By Himanshi Lohchab , ET Bureau Published On Apr 18, 2025 at 07:28 AM IST Telegram Facebook Copy Link Be the first one to comment.
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