Wi-Fi Adding Millions of U.S. Jobs: WifiForward
As the spectrum wars continue, WifiForward released a study Wednesday that found Wi-Fi was responsible for more than 7 million U.S. jobs in 2023. It projected that the figure would grow to more than 13 million by 2027 and 21 million by 2032. “This growth is driven by significant direct employment derived from the economic value of Wi-Fi, coupled with substantial indirect employment from upstream supply chains and a Wi-Fi-facilitated boost in consumer spending,” the analysis said. Telecom Advisory Services wrote the study.
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The report urged that more spectrum be dedicated to Wi-Fi, including 7 GHz, a band that carriers targeted for full-power licensed use. “Policymakers facing decisions about future commercial spectrum allocation should prioritize spectrum allocation strategies favoring Wi-Fi technologies to maximize employment growth and broader economic benefits.” It also questioned numbers in a January NERA study that CTIA funded (see 2501230041). The NERA estimate “appears to assume the immediate availability of spectrum for licensed use and thus may be negatively affected by time lags associated with spectrum clearing and other factors related to delayed use."
The report comes at a challenging time for Wi-Fi, with Congress focused on finding a spectrum pipeline for carriers (see 2502190068). FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said last week that U.S. spectrum policy is “drastically out of balance,” with more midband spectrum allocated for the federal government and unlicensed use than for use by carriers (see 2503250049).
The study also underscored the importance of new Wi-Fi standards. Deployment of Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 technologies, which use the 6 GHz band in addition to the 2.4 and 5 GHz bands, “represents a substantial evolution from earlier standards, primarily due to the availability of wider channels, increased capacity, and lower latency.”
“Americans use Wi-Fi from the minute they wake up to the minute they go to sleep,” said Mary Brown, WifiForward executive director: “It’s no surprise that a resource as critical to our lives as Wi-Fi is creating millions of jobs each year, with the strongest projected job growth in the 6 GHz band.”