Ofcom’s Innovative Framework for 6 GHz Spectrum Sharing Offers Possible Solution to 6 GHz Spectrum Challenges

Following a year-long consultation with the industry, in January 2026 the U.K. telco’s regulator, Ofcom, released its plans for expanding Wi-Fi access in the 6 Gigahertz (GHz) spectrum band (5925–7125 Megahertz (MHz)). This would consist of two major updates to existing spectrum policy. First, Ofcom would release an additional 160 MHz of spectrum for unlicensed use, meaning that Wi-Fi’s unrestricted access to the 6 GHz band would be enlarged from the current 5925–6425 MHz range to 5925–6585 MHz. The second update, and the one that arguably carries greater global significance, is the proposal that the remainder of the 6 GHz band (from 6585 to 7125 MHz) be shared between cellular and Wi-Fi. This would see mobile have priority in the 6585–7125 MHz frequencies, with Wi-Fi access governed by Automated Frequency Coordination (AFC) systems.

All currently deployed 6 GHz-enabled Wi-Fi infrastructure in the United Kingdom is already compatible with the entirety of the 6 GHz band, meaning that the immediate impacts of this regulatory pivot could be huge. The update would also significantly enhance the value proposition of future 6 GHz Wi-Fi deployments in the United Kingdom. This ABI Insight analyzes the decision-making that underpinned these latest Ofcom proposals, explores how they may work in practice, and assesses their potential worldwide implications.

Ofcom’s intentions to revise its approach to the 6 GHz spectrum band were first revealed in February 2025, when the regulator commenced a 3-month consultation period with the industry on the proposal that Wi-Fi & International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) share the upper portion of 6 GHz (6425–7125 MHZ). Responses to the proposals were submitted by a wide variety of companies, including those in favor like Qualcomm, as well as those against, such as the GSMA and BT. The main argument from the latter camp was that any encroachment on the upper 6 GHz band will curtail future 6G services. Yet this is the same argument previously used to justify reserving the upper 6 GHz spectrum for 5G, an argument that is now appearing increasingly untenable given the sluggish development of the 6 GHz IMT ecosystem and evident lack of market interest from operators for the 6 GHz band.

While the United Kingdom (and many other countries and territories) chose to reserve the upper 6 GHz spectrum for licensed IMT use, to date, only Hong Kong has actually successfully conducted an auction of the spectrum, the outcome of which was resoundingly underwhelming. The auction, conducted in November 2024, saw 25% of the available spectrum left unsold, and the final sale price for the spectrum that was purchased was a mere 5% above the reserve price. This result is even more shocking when you consider that bidders were able to benefit from a full tax deduction for spectrum fees payable on the acquired spectrum.

While the cellular industry’s adoption and utilization of 6 GHz has been, to date, virtually nonexistent, the Wi-Fi industry has been quick to harness and monetize the opportunities offered by the new spectrum. Illustrating this is the fact that shipments of 6 GHz-enabled Wi-Fi chipsets leapt from 213.8 million in 2022 to 681.6 million in 2024. Going forward, shipments are forecast to accelerate further, with an expected 1.4 billion shipments in 2026, increasing to 2.6 billion in 2030. The stark contrast between the utilization of 6 GHz by the two industries was, no doubt, the original driver behind Ofcom’s decision to reconsider its approach to the upper portion of the band, and ultimately led the regulator to side with advocates to expanded Wi-Fi access. So conclusive was the victory of the Wi-Fi camp that Ofcom went further than allowing shared access in the upper 6 GHz spectrum—they were swayed by feedback from the consultation that pressed for an additional 160 MHz (from 6425 to 6585 MHz) to be released for unlicensed use. This move emulates the pioneering decision of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, which first released this extra 160 MHz portion for Wi-Fi in December 2024.

During the consultation stage, the precise mechanisms facilitating shared access to 6 GHz had not been finalized, and several potential approaches were floated. One prospective approach was to leverage the 802.11bc standard to identify locations of potential interference between Wi-Fi and IMT transmissions utilizing the same time-frequency resources, enabling operators to proactively reassign or restrict Wi-Fi transmissions to prevent this interference. While a PoC for this application of 802.11bc was conducted by wireless advisory firm Real Wireless in February 2025, validating its effectiveness, the majority of the responses to the consultation argued that the most practical method was to leverage AFC systems.

AFC systems, which are essentially database lookup schemes that first certify the absence of incumbents in the band in any given locality before permitting transmissions at Standard Power (SP) 6 GHz levels, have already witnessed widespread deployment in the United States and Canada. In the United States and Canada (where Wi-Fi has unlicensed access to the entire 6 GHz band), AFC is being used to prevent Wi-Fi from interfering with existing legacy incumbents like Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) and Radio Astrology Service (RAS), but in Ofcom’s proposal, AFC will be used to prevent Wi-Fi’s interference with cellular signals—a worldwide first.

Because cellular has yet to begin occupying the upper 6 GHz band (as discussed above), the idea is that Wi-Fi would, at first, have unimpeded early access to 6585–7125 MHz, and that when cellular services do start entering the band in the future, an AFC system would be activated to prevent Wi-Fi from disrupting with their signals. This early access for Wi-Fi is a significant win for the Wi-Fi industry, because not only will consumers be able to begin enjoying the benefits of expanded spectrum access in the near future, but the reality is that once 6 GHz Wi-Fi devices are active in the upper 6 GHz band, it will be unfeasible for the cellular industry to orchestrate their removal.

To fully appreciate the significance of Ofcom’s proposal, we must place it within the broader context of the current 6 GHz spectrum policy landscape. In the almost 6 years since the United States became the first country to allocate the 6 GHz spectrum for unlicensed use, the world has fractured into three distinct blocs. The first, which includes United States itself, consists of those that chose to release the entire 1200 MHz of the band (5925–7125 MHz) for unlicensed use. The second group is the countries that opted to allocate only the lower portion of the band (5925–6425 MHz) for unlicensed use. This includes all of continental Europe, up until now, the United Kingdom, and numerous other key markets around the globe, such as India and Japan. The final bloc consists of those that have either reserved the entire band for licensed use, like Mainland China, or those still on the fence, like much of the African continent.

Prior to Ofcom’s recent decision, this division appeared entrenched and intractable. While there were a handful of examples of countries reversing course (Chile and Brazil downgraded their unlicensed access to 6 GHz from the full band to only the lower portion in 3Q 2022 and 1Q 2025, respectively), on the whole, each bloc was firmly committed to its stance. Yet, Ofcom’s proposal fundamentally changes this dynamic, because, for the first time, spectrum sharing would be allowed between Wi-Fi and cellular in the upper 6 GHz, removing the zero-sum contest between the two technologies and offering a path for closer alignment between the disparate blocs. Should spectrum sharing be successfully implemented by Ofcom, then it will be possible for both the Wi-Fi and cellular industries to monetize the upper portion of 6 GHz, demonstrating a potential model that other countries worldwide can emulate.