The Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA) is pushing for expanded use of unlicensed Wi-Fi for delivery of internet access in rural areas where other technologies, including cellular networks, may not provide the best options for connectivity. The industry organization’s latest white paper aims to demonstrate that Wi-Fi is an economical and effective solution for bridging the digital divide in small towns and remote communities.
The need is real
A joint report from UNICEF and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) has noted that two-thirds of school-age children – or 1.3 billion children aged 3 to 17 years old – worldwide lack home internet. According to the ITU, although 4.9 billion people had internet access in 2021, 2.9 billion are totally offline, with 96% of those being in developing countries. Furthermore, many of the 4.9 billion with internet access may only have it sporadically or get access speeds that restrict their connection’s usefulness.
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Wi-Fi to the rescue
WBA contends in its new report that regulators should ensure the new 6 GHz spectrum band is available for unlicensed use in their countries so service providers can gain additional spectrum for expanded capacity and improved data speeds and performance. The latest Wi-Fi technology, Wi-Fi 6E, is an extension of the Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax) standard but supports activity in the unfettered 6GHz band for unlicensed usage.
Wi-Fi is already enabled in smartphones, tablets, laptops, streaming boxes and other connected devices, but growing traffic over those legacy devices could lead the existing Wi-Fi bands of 2.4GHz and 5GHz to become overwhelmed, especially as use cases such as digital classrooms, online education, remote work, and telehealth expand. Opening up the 6 GHz band can help alleviate Wi-Fi traffic congestion. The US Federal Communications Commission opened up the complete 1200 MHz allocation in the 6 GHz band (5.925 to 7.125 MHz) in April 2020, with numerous other countries such as South Korea, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Peru, Honduras, and Guatemala also following suit, while the UK has partially opened the band, the WBA notes.
Numerous Wi-Fi use cases
The alliance also suggests various use cases where Wi-Fi can be leveraged for rural connectivity. For example, it notes that fiber-based service providers can use Wi-Fi to extend their services over an unlicensed band microwave link rather than burying or stringing fiber in remote areas. Bharat Air Fiber is a service being deployed in rural parts of India based on such an architecture.
Another use case involves cellular operators using Wi-Fi for both fixed and mobile broadband services. The WBA notes that the average cost to deploy a cellular tower covering a population of around 4,000 spread across 1 square kilometer costs at least 20x more in capital and operational expenses than using Wi-Fi to serve the area. In this example, the total Wi-Fi deployment cost would only be $2,500, which would include outdoor Wi-Fi equipment, external antennas, solar panel, solar charge controller, battery, outdoor PoE, poles and earthing, cabling, and two years of fiber backhaul subscription cost.
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