6 GHz showdown: Jio questions Meta’s $3 trillion economic value math

A licence-free use could immediately pave the way for next-generation Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 technologies and gadgets such as Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro or new smart glasses from Apple or Meta.

However, telecom operators require the 6GHz band to support future high-speed and high-capacity network needs for 5G and 6G.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has proposed to carve out a portion (500 MHz) of the 6 GHz band for licence-free use. It has also suggested bringing the remaining 700 MHz spectrum under auction for telecom operators.

But 300 MHz of this will be available for auction only by December 2030, when it is vacated by existing users such as satellite and defence authorities.

Both Big Tech companies and telecom operators want the entire 1200 MHz for their respective use only.

Meta anticipates a $3 trillion value from delicensing 500 MHz of the 6GHz band, Alan Norman, public policy director at the US technology giant, said at a recent spectrum management conference in New Delhi, citing a study by Raul Katz, founder of US-based Telecom Advisory Services LLC. “In this band, value to telcos is very small."

That implies a value creation of $6 billion per MHz for 500 MHz band.

By comparison, Norman said, if the upper end (700 MHz) of the band is brought under auction for telecom operators, it would create an economic value of $254 billion over 10 years.

He cited an analysis by consulting firm Telecom Advisory Services, which included benefits for consumers, producers, primarily from IoT deployment, and expected proceeds from telecom auctions in the 6GHz band based the estimates of the Global System for Mobile Communications Association (GSMA).

Reliance Jio, however, countered the premise of the projected $3 trillion value, arguing that it could have included broad economic factors such as the cost of devices manufactured and revenue of over-the-top (OTT) companies, which is not a like-for-like comparison with the value telecom operators can create with the band.

“The numbers are good but I think we should have side-by-side (comparison with telcos). We should try to do the same for the 3.5 GHz band on which 5G is being run by including all those factors which have been included in the calculation (for the delicensed band value creation)," Ravi Gandhi, president and chief regulatory officer at Reliance Jio, said in his arguments at the conference.

“The contribution to the economy would include the cost of devices, the OTT and their ad revenue sitting on that. The value creation (by telecom operators) will probably be more than $6 billion per MHz," Gandhi said, without giving any estimates for the economic value that licensed 6GHz spectrum can create.

Queries emailed to Meta and Jio did not elicit a response until press time.

Economic value encompasses cost savings and benefits consumers receive, profits companies generate by providing products and services, and the overall increase in the economy's productivity resulting from the adoption of technology.

Why monetization is crucial

In 2023, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents major telecom operators, had said that the allocation of spectrum in the 6 GHz band without auction would result in a potential loss of over ₹3 trillion (around $33 billion) to the national exchequer.

Satya N. Gupta, former principal advisor at the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), sees a higher economic value from unlicensed use of the spectrum.

"These projections take into account various economic factors. I believe the economic value of an unlicensed band for Wi-Fi depends on the applications where it will be used and the number of operators who would use the same," said Gupta “Further, social benefits also add to the economic value."

According to Gupta, licensing the band could restrict its value due to delayed monetisation, a costly device ecosystem, and a few operators having control over the spectrum.

Jio, Airtel differ on auction timing

Beyond the valuation debate, Jio also raised an infrastructure concern that could limit the potential benefits of the delicensed band for WiFi.

“We don't have as good fibre laid as the other countries have. We need to have a balance between indoor spectrum and outdoor macro cell spectrum so as to ensure a smooth path from the device to the core network," Gandhi said.

“We need to create an equivalent backhaul network to actually get the benefit of this Wi-Fi. If we don't have the background network and we try to only put all the spectrum in Wi-Fi, we will not be able to actually provide the benefit to the user."

Norman, however, argued that India needs to expedite delicensing of the lower 6GHz band as the device ecosystem is ready there. He said the government needs to be cautious in auctioning the upper portion as the device ecosystem is still nascent in that range, and the auction revenue and deployments will be prolonged.

“The real question for 6 GHz is not who gets the spectrum, but whether the ecosystem is prepared to monetize it," said Vinish Bawa, partner and leader telecom at PwC India. Licence-exempt access will create meaningful value only if fibre, backhaul, and device availability scale in parallel; otherwise, the economic impact risks being overstated, he said.

A phased, low-power Wi-Fi strategy, while preserving International Mobile Telecommunication (IMT) optionality, represents the most pragmatic and credible path forward for India, he said.

Jio, Airtel differ on auction timing

Reliance Jio wants the government to put the entire band up for auction, according to its submissions to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). However, when the government suggested delicensing the lower end of the band, the company wanted it to first allow higher-powered Wi-Fi signals outdoors so that it could use the airwaves to improve its home broadband services in a cost-effective manner.

For Jio, stronger signals in the unlicensed band radio (UBR) will help provide home broadband services through outdoor Wi-Fi. Jio is the only operator currently using an outdoor Wi-Fi network in the existing 5 GHz band. The company is now also exploring the 6 GHz band for these services.

Earlier, Big Tech companies–Amazon, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Meta Platforms, Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Intel Corporation–in a joint representation told the telecom regulator that the spectrum in the 6425-6725 MHz and 7025-7125 MHz ranges for international mobile telecommunications (IMT) should not be offered in the next auction.

“This is because technical and commercial readiness for IMT in the 6 GHz band is not established," they said.

Reliance Jio’s rival operator Bharti Airtel Ltd agreed, saying that “the global ecosystem for this band, in terms of devices and network equipment, remains in its infancy."

While Airtel has urged Trai to defer the auctions in the band, Reliance Jio wants the government to immediately auction it.