ABI Research Urges Additional Unlicensed Spectrum for Wi-Fi
ABI Research said the FCC should allocate more spectrum, including in the 7 GHz band, for Wi-Fi, and noted strong growth in use of the 6 GHz band reallocated for unlicensed use in 2020. Wi-Fi carries 82%-89% of mobile data…
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traffic, said the report, released Tuesday: “Wi-Fi also supports a rapidly increasing volume and diversity of connected devices, and manages traffic from a more densely-arrayed set of devices.” ABI predicted that 6-GHz-enabled consumer devices shipped to North America will grow from 95 million today to an estimated 367 million in 2029. “Wi-Fi needs multiple 320 Megahertz channels to support the growing number of devices and high-performance applications, particularly in dense networking environments,” the report said. WifiForward said Wednesday that the report augments “a growing body of evidence highlighting an urgent need for more unlicensed spectrum.” It added, “The unlicensed spectrum of today will not be able to handle what consumers expect for the future: more devices that are more data intensive.”