The U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel recently spoke at the National Science Foundation where she explained why it is time to start planning for 6G now and how the FCC is planning for this new wireless standard. In her speech, she said, “the scrum for 6G is already intensifying,” and showed support for building a new spectrum pipeline to support 6G technology.
“We have already identified the 7-16GHz band as prime mid-band airwaves for the 6G era. That is why we have started an inquiry into making 550MHz of spectrum in the 12.7-13.25GHz band available for new commercial mobile use,” Rosenworcel stated. “It will take time, energy, and effort. But if we do it right, our wireless future will be big.”
Rosenworcel also insisted Congress restore the FCC’s spectrum auctioning authority to allow for a greater number of auctions making it more lucrative for the government and more efficient for commercial use in allocating spectrum.
According to Gartner senior director analyst Susan Welsh de Grimaldo, the spectrum needs for 6G will be much greater than 5G with a subset of envisioned 6G capabilities requiring up to 3GHz of wide area spectrum.
“With anticipated timing of first commercial 6G deployments in 2030, there is already an urgent need for the U.S. to identify and plan for allocation of substantial amounts of new spectrum for both wide area and local area use for 6G,” said Welsh de Grimaldo. “Early alignment on spectrum is important to foster development and innovation and to be ready for commercial launch.”