Wi-Fi Advocates Hope Congress Won't Ignore Unlicensed Spectrum
Deficit reduction is driving spectrum policy and an auction means money for the Treasury, but lawmakers shouldn’t ignore Wi-Fi's growing role, said WifiForward Executive Director Mary Brown during a Broadband Breakfast webinar Wednesday. Brown said she expects action in the House and Senate on spectrum legislation in the next four to 10 weeks, restoring FCC auction authority and identifying some bands for auction. Still to be determined is how specific Congress will be in picking bands and the timelines it will impose, she said.
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“Money to the Treasury means that Congress doesn’t need to cut as deep into some of their programs that they like” or can use money for deficit reduction, Brown said. There are “many, many questions.” She predicted that the House will act by the Memorial Day recess and the Senate before the July Fourth break.
Wi-Fi “is absolutely exploding” with 95 million devices in the 6 GHz band as of the end of last year, with 367 million expected just in the U.S. by the end of 2029, Brown said. “We are in a period of rapid change,” and the U.S. will need to provide additional spectrum for unlicensed use. “We are going to need wider channels to support the kinds of uses that consumers want in their homes,” she said. “2025 is shaping up as a huge year.”
While cellular technology is important, 90% of the traffic on carrier networks is offloaded onto Wi-Fi, said Josh Baggett, Hewlett Packard Enterprise's head-global spectrum policy. Wi-Fi is “the leading American technology.”
Opensignal research confirms that “most data consumption, most time, is spent on Wi-Fi versus cellular,” said Micah Sachs, the firm's vice president-global broadband products and market insights. Of the big three carriers, T-Mobile has the lowest percentage of traffic on Wi-Fi at 80%, he said. Customers are more concerned about consistency and reliability than optimal speeds, he added.
Brown said WifiForward supports more spectrum for carriers but wants to protect bands used by Wi-Fi, especially 6 GHz, and is pushing for more unlicensed spectrum as well.