Mint Explainer | Big Tech left waiting as India’s new spectrum plan skips 6 GHz WiFi
Despite prior ministerial assurances that license-free access to this spectrum was a ‘necessity,’ the new blueprint leaves global tech giants like Google and Meta in limbo.
Ever wonder why your high-end smartphone or gaming console supports the latest WiFi 7 technology, but you aren’t seeing those lightning-fast speeds at home? This happens because India has not yet opened up the 6GHz spectrum needed to fully unlock next-generation WiFi performance. On 30 December, the department of telecommunications (DoT) released the country’s spectrum allocation plan. The plan made no mention of licence-free use of any portion of the 6GHz band, despite the government proposing such a move last year and even calling it a ‘necessity’. A lack of clarity has left major technology companies in limbo over the future of license-free access to the band.
What does India's National Frequency Allocation Plan (NFAP) 2025 say?
The National Frequency Allocation Plan is the official master document for radio-frequency management in India. The document outlines the spectrum band allocation for various services, including cellular mobile services, WiFi, television broadcasting, satellite communications, radio navigation for aircraft and ships, defence and security communications, and emergency communications. To keep pace with rapid technological shifts, DoT performs periodic reviews—the most recent of which was finalized on 30 December, following the 2022 plan.
DoT has allocated frequencies from 8.3KHz to 3000GHz and expanded allocations to support 5G, 5G advanced, future 6G, satellite broadband, and vehicle connectivity technologies, as per the new plan. The spectrum blueprint is an essential reference for spectrum managers, wireless operators, and telecom equipment manufacturers.
But why are tech companies unhappy with NFAP?
Tech companies such as Meta, Google, and Qualcomm, among others, represented by the industry body Broadband India Forum, are disappointed over the absence of the lower 6 GHz band (5925–6425 MHz) from licence-free use in the country’s spectrum blueprint. Licence-free use could immediately pave the way for next-generation WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 technologies and gadgets such as Sony's PlayStation 5 Pro or new smart glasses from Apple or Meta.
“The exclusion of the lower 6GHz band from NFAP 2025 is not merely an oversight; it represents a clear departure from an already articulated policy direction. Such inconsistency introduces avoidable uncertainty and risks slowing momentum for innovation and the deployment of modern, advanced WiFi technologies across the country," said T.V. Ramachandran, president of Broadband India Forum. The absence of such recognition is a setback for innovation and for the deployment of advanced WiFi needed to support use cases such as e-education, e-health, immersive technologies, and next-generation digital services, according to Ramachandran.
While the lower band was ignored, the plan earmarks the upper 700 MHz portion for sale to telcos.
Did India propose license-free use of the 6 GHz band?
In the draft rules released on 16 May, the government proposed delicensing the lower 6GHz band, which is a chunk of 500MHz. It had prescribed the use of the band in lower-power indoor and very low-power outdoor wireless access systems.
“We have now delicensed and awarded the lower portion of the 6GHz spectrum, which is not a luxury today; it is a necessity," Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia had said at an industry event on 24 June, adding that the rules for license-free use of the 6GHz band will be out before 15 August 2025. “And that will give our industry multi-gigabit speeds, ultra-low latency, low-cost digital highways that will spawn multiple businesses and opportunities."
However, even after five months of the minister's statement, the band has yet to be opened up for WiFi. Currently, home WiFi routers operate in the 2.4GHz or 5GHz bands. Analysts suggest that upgrading the band to 6GHz can enhance home broadband speeds and performance.
What are the reasons for the delay?
After the government released a draft notification for the delicensing of the 6GHz band, telecom operator Reliance Jio Infocomm, which had earlier opposed the delicensing of the band, requested that a higher-powered signal be allowed for outdoor devices. Big Tech companies, too, sought a high-powered signal for indoor use, but they ultimately agreed to the power limits proposed by the government. However, citing concerns that stronger outdoor signals might interfere with other important networks like satellites and broadcasting, the government set up a committee a few months ago to study the matter, delaying the full rollout of licence-free use of the 5925-6425MHz band.
A higher-powered signal can travel farther, pass through walls and other obstacles and maintain a stable connection over a wider area.
For Jio, stronger signals in the unlicensed band radio (UBR) will help provide home broadband services through outdoor WiFi.
Telecom operators, through the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), have also been requesting that the entire 1200MHz be allocated to them through an auction. That demand might also have applied the brakes on the license-free use of a portion of the band, according to government officials and industry executives.
Why do telecom operators want the complete 6 GHz band?
Telcos want the entire band to meet data growth and deliver affordable, high-quality 5G and future 6G services. Each telecom service provider requires at least 400MHz of contiguous mid-band spectrum, according to COAI. “Fragmented or insufficient spectrum will significantly limit network performance and increase deployment costs. Moreover, India continues to witness unprecedented growth in mobile data usage. Existing mid-band spectrum holdings are insufficient to meet future capacity requirements," COAI said in a statement on 31 December after the release of NFAP.
In fact, Meta stated at an industry event in December that it anticipates a $3 trillion economic value for India from delicensing 500 MHz of the 6GHz band over 10 years, citing a study by Raul Katz, founder of US-based Telecom Advisory Services LLC. In comparison, if the upper end (700 MHz) of the band were auctioned to telecom operators, it would create an economic value of $254 billion over 10 years in India.
What is the stance of other countries on the 6GHz band?
A total of 96 countries, excluding India, have enabled 6GHz spectrum for WiFi, according to Wi-Fi Alliance, which counts companies such as Apple, Sony, Meta, Samsung, Qualcomm, Intel, and Dell as its members. Out of the same, a total of 13 countries, including the US, South Korea, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, have licensed the complete 6GHz band for WiFi.
The remaining countries, such as Australia, Switzerland, Vietnam, and UK, among others, have opened up at least the 500MHz band for WiFi.
What about the device ecosystem?
Amazon, Apple, Broadcom, Cisco Systems, Meta Platforms, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, and Intel Corp. issued a joint statement in November, expressing concerns over the technical and commercial readiness of International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) in the 6GHz band.
These companies have told the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) that the band should not come up in the next spectrum auctions for telecom operators, as there is an immature device and infrastructure ecosystem, limited global adoption for mobile services, and a lack of compelling use-cases and existing spectrum sufficiency in the 6GHz band. Bharti Airtel, too, echoed the view of the Big Tech companies, saying that “the global ecosystem for this band, in terms of devices and network equipment, remains in its infancy."
However, for license-free use of the band, a huge ecosystem and chipset support are currently available in the 6GHz band, in the form of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) devices from companies such as Apple, Meta, Sony, among others.
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