In January 2026, India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) announced that the lower 6 GHz band (5925–6425 MHz) can be used license-free for Low-Power Indoor (LPI) and Very-Low-Power (VLP) Wi-Fi and RLAN. This is a pivotal step for the country’s wireless roadmap because it gives Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 a clean, scalable spectrum path—especially where performance consistency and latency matter more than peak headline speeds.
Why 500 MHz matters in real networks
For India, adding 500 MHz of fresh spectrum is a meaningful upgrade for high-density environments, such as corporate offices, large campuses, hospitals, and industrial sites. These are the places where Wi-Fi contention, co-channel interference, and unpredictable latency first appear. With more spectrum available, networks can spread users and applications across more channels, reduce airtime congestion, and improve reliability during busy hours—video collaboration, AR/VR training, automated guided vehicles, and real-time monitoring included.
A “clean layer” with fewer legacy constraints
A key advantage of the 6 GHz band is that it’s a new capacity layer, with older Wi-Fi devices not competing for airtime. That matters because legacy clients often pull network efficiency down (slower rates, more airtime per packet). With 6 GHz, IT teams can design higher-performance SSIDs and policies knowing that clients are more likely to be modern and capable—particularly as 6E/7 adoption accelerates in laptops, premium phones, and enterprise endpoints.
Wi-Fi 7 is designed to exploit 6 GHz
Wi-Fi 7 is built to benefit from wide, clean channels and multi-band operation. On 6 GHz, it can take fuller advantage of:
- Multi-Link Operation (MLO): using multiple links (e.g., 5 GHz + 6 GHz) to improve throughput consistency and reduce latency for time-sensitive apps.
- 320 MHz channels: enabling higher capacity where RF conditions support it.
- Better spectrum efficiency: including smarter channel usage (for example, operating around interference rather than “wasting” an entire wide channel).
Together, these features push Wi-Fi toward more deterministic performance—less “fast sometimes,” more “consistently good.”
Operating restrictions businesses must plan around
India’s rules also come with clear operational constraints that shape where and how 6 GHz will be used:
- Prohibited on oil platforms
- Indoor use is prohibited on land vehicles (cars/trains), boats, and aircraft (except when flying above 10,000 feet)
- Not permitted for drone/UAS control links
- Contention-based access is required (i.e., devices must share spectrum using contention protocols)
The practical takeaway: the lower 6 GHz band is primarily an indoor densification and enterprise capacity play—not a universal “use anywhere” band.
India’s model: closer to the EU than the US
India’s approach aligns more closely with the EU’s lower-band strategy than the US model, which opened a broader portion of the 6 GHz band. That still delivers major gains, but it also means capacity isn’t “unlimited.” Because power and use are constrained, the business value will come less from blanket coverage and more from targeted high-quality indoor deployments.
What success looks like: execution, not just spectrum
Licence-free spectrum is only the starting point. Outcomes will depend on:
- Access point design and placement, especially in high-density floors and challenging RF environments
- Backhaul readiness: multi-gig switching, PoE budgets, and uplink capacity to avoid bottlenecks
- RF planning and policy design: clean channel plans, segmentation, and QoS aligned to app needs
- Device refresh cycles: the speed at which 6E/7 clients become the majority of endpoints
In short, the lower 6 GHz decision creates a strong runway for Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 in India, but real performance gains will depend on how well enterprises design and operate their indoor networks.