Ofcom UK Explores Hybrid Sharing of 6GHz for Wi-Fi and Mobile

The UK telecoms regulator, Ofcom, has today proposed an alternative way of solving the debate over whether WiFi or mobile broadband (5G) should benefit from the extra capacity (i.e. faster speeds) available in the Upper 6GHz radio spectrum band (6425 to 7125MHz) – “hybrid sharing“.

Just to recap. Ofcom has already made the Lower part (5925 to 6425MHz) of this band available for WiFi under the new WiFi 6E and future standards (here), but the Upper part has remained the subject of some debate. Mobile operators want to harness it (licensed) to deliver faster 5G based mobile speeds, while others say it should go toward licence-exempt consumer WiFi.

So far, the regulator has tended to favour a “no change” approach (here), at least until such time as the natural market direction changes or the wider industry adopts a clear position at the next World Radiocommunications Conference (WRC) – due to be held between 20th November and 15th December 2023.

However, rather than choosing between the two, Ofcom has today announced that they’re considering a third approach (here) that would enable the use of both Wi-Fi and mobile in the Upper 6GHz band. The regulator calls this method “hybrid sharing“.

Two Examples of Hybrid Sharing

Indoor outdoor split.

Wi-Fi routers tend to be indoors – carrying broadband traffic within a localised indoor area; whereas mobile transmitters are mostly located outdoors – providing wider area coverage. So, we are exploring the possibility of enabling the indoor use of Wi-Fi while also enabling licensed mobile use outdoors.

Geographical sharing.

Most of the data traffic carried across mobile networks tends to be concentrated in a relatively small proportion of sites. It might be possible to enable licensed mobile use in specific high-traffic locations while allowing Wi-Fi use elsewhere. It might also be possible to prioritise Wi-Fi use in specific areas of high demand while allowing mobile use in other areas.

As ever, the big difficulty with this sort of approach is the need to achieve co-existence without causing interference for one service or the other, which has historically been easier said than done. Personally, we tend to favour simplicity over complexity in these things, as complexity tends to add costs and other problems (e.g. see White Space broadband technologies for an example).

Ofcom’s consultation is thus looking to identify an appropriate hybrid sharing mechanism to facilitate coexistence between the services, as well as to encourage the development of technology-based solutions (e.g. managed databases and enhanced dynamic sensing) and pressing for international harmonisation to support such an approach (also needed for economies of scale for equipment).

As we’ve said, this is not an easy thing to get right. For example, Ofcom talks a lot about Wi-Fi being an indoor technology, although even home signals extend outdoors for a distance and that’s before we get into the issue of public WiFi hotspots and related Smartphone connectivity.

The regulator intends to consult on all this until 15th September 2023 and added that their “work with other European administrations to develop harmonised hybrid sharing mechanisms will continue after WRC-23, regardless of the outcome of WRC-23 on agenda item 1.2“.