Global demand for high-capacity, low-latency wireless connectivity continues to grow, and the 6-gigahertz band of radio spectrum has emerged as a particularly vital chunk of wireless real estate.Both the cellular and Wi-Fi industries consider this contiguous block, which covers frequencies from 5,925 to 7,125 megahertz, critical. The cellular industry believes the spectrum can provide anchor capacity for urban 6G cellular networks, while Wi-Fi advocates want it for low-latency, multigigabit-per-second streaming, augmented reality, and virtual reality applications over Wi-Fi 7 and Wi-Fi 8 devices.Unlicensed Wi-Fi advocates, backed by companies like Amazon, Apple, Google, and Microsoft, want the spectrum made available as public frequencies that are open to anyone. They are vying with licensed cellular providers who believe the airwaves should be exclusive and purchased from regulatory bodies to guarantee coverage and provide seamless mobility.Most major global economies have decided to split 6 GHz between unlicensed Wi-Fi access on the lower 500-MHz portion of the band (spanning from 5,925 to 6,425 MHz) and licensed cellular use on the larger 700-MHz upper portion. The battle lines have now shifted to the European Union, India, and the United Kingdom, as well as other fence sitters that have yet to decide how the critical upper 6-GHz airwaves will be assigned, with Wi-Fi and cellular camps fiercely lobbying their cases with regulators.6-GHz Spectrum and Economic Growth“Any country that chooses not to allocate the entire 6-GHz band to unlicensed use is putting itself at significant innovation disadvantage and limiting its capacity for economic growth,” says Mary Brown, executive director of Wifi Forward, a Wi-Fi advocacy group whose members include Broadcom, Comcast, Google, and Microsoft.