Consultation: Hybrid sharing: enabling both licensed mobile and Wi-Fi users to access the upper 6 GHz band

Update published 21 May 2024

Following on from the ITU’s World Radiocommunications Conference 2023 (WRC-23), Ofcom has published its vision for the future of the Upper 6 GHz band (PDF, 529.5 KB). We want to see hybrid sharing between mobile and Wi-Fi to unlock the maximum possible benefits of the band to all users, and will continue working with international partners to push for harmonised standards for this. We expect to consult on the precise mechanisms for authorising the Upper 6 GHz band in 2025.

In July 2023, we published a consultation (PDF, 2.1 MB) about enabling both mobile and Wi-Fi use in the upper 6 GHz band. In the document, we said we are exploring options that would enable this 'hybrid sharing'. To achieve this objective, we proposed to:

• Identify appropriate hybrid sharing mechanisms to facilitate coexistence between licensed mobile, Wi-Fi and, where appropriate, existing users of the band;
• Encourage the development of technology-based coexistence solutions such as managed databases and enhanced dynamic sensing;
• Continue pressing for international harmonisation of hybrid sharing of the band to enable economies of scale for equipment.

We received 41 responses to this consultation, highlighting the strong demand for using this spectrum. We published a summary (PDF, 239.3 KB) of these, intended to provide a high-level indication of the range of viewpoints we received, but we do not include any analysis about the merit or substance of the responses. We suggest readers complement this document by reading the full non-confidential responses, available below.