6㎓ band, essential for Wi-Fi 6E and 5G NR-U implementation
Ministry of Science and ICT to supply 6㎓ band 1.2㎓ width only indoors
Wi-Fi 6E, up to 5 times faster than Wi-Fi 6


Wi-Fi speeds are 5x faster.

On the 25th, the Ministry of Science and ICT finalized a plan to supply the 6 GHz (5.925-7.125 GHz, 1.2 GHz width) band as an unlicensed frequency.

Next-generation unlicensed communication technologies such as Wi-Fi 6E (Extended) and 5G NR-U (5G New Radio Unlicensed) are attracting attention as technologies that will assist 5G. To implement these, the 6㎓ band must be utilized.

The Ministry of Science and ICT has decided to supply the entire 1.2 GHz bandwidth for indoor use, but has limited the output to 250 ㎽, 2 dBm/㎒ or less. For device-to-device connections, the output is limited to 25 ㎽ for the lower 500 MHz (5.925–6.425 ㎓) bandwidth. In 2022, when the frequency sharing system (K-FC) is introduced, the usage range will be expanded to outdoors.

This offering is expected to make Wi-Fi speeds five times faster. According to Broadcom's measurements in January of this year, Wi-Fi 6 achieved speeds of 400 Mbps and latency of 2 to 14 ms, while Wi-Fi 6E achieved speeds of 2.1 Gbps and latency of 2 ms.

Currently, the 5G speeds of the three domestic mobile carriers are at the 2Gbps level, and considering that it does not work well indoors, the advantage of Wi-Fi is expected to grow even more.

Users can optionally use Wi-Fi 6E as well as 5G NR-U. In particular, using 5G NR-U, a smart factory network at the level of a 5G network can be built at a low cost. An official from the Ministry of Science and ICT expected that this measure would promote the introduction of 5G technology to small and medium-sized factories.

The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to collect additional opinions during the administrative notice period (June 26 (Fri) to August 24 (Mon)). The related notice revisions can be found on the Ministry of Science and ICT website, the National Law Information Center, etc.