과학기술정보통신부는 와이파이 6E 상용화를 위해 2020년부터 2.4/5GHz 대역에서 6GHz 대역으로 확장을 위한 고정·이동 방송중계용 무선국 주파수 재배치를 완료했으며, 이와 함께 와이파이 7 도입을 위한 제도개선도 추진한다고 밝혔다.
Wi-Fi 6E support from Samsung Electronics S21 and Apple 15 Pro Bandwidth per channel expanded from 160MHz to 320MHz in the first half
The Ministry of Science and ICT is completing the WiFi 6E frequency reallocation that it has been gradually promoting, and is also promoting institutional improvements for the introduction of WiFi 7.
The Ministry of Science and ICT announced that it has completed the reallocation of fixed and mobile broadcasting relay radio stations' frequencies from the 2.4/5 GHz band to the 6 GHz band starting in 2020 for the commercialization of Wi-Fi 6E, and that it will also pursue institutional improvements for the introduction of Wi-Fi 7.
In 2020, the Ministry of Science and ICT supported the commercialization of Wi-Fi 6E by supplying 1,200 MHz of the 6 GHz band (5,925-7,125 MHz) for unlicensed use, becoming the second country in the world after the United States. Accordingly, major smartphones released in Korea since 2021, including Samsung Electronics' Galaxy S21 Ultra series and later models and Apple's iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, support Wi-Fi 6E.
However, since the 6GHz band in Wi-Fi 6E is already being used for fixed and mobile broadcasting, the Ministry of Science and ICT has been promoting reallocation in three stages to prevent interference and confusion in cooperation with broadcasters since December 2020, and announced that it has completed paying a total of KRW 14 billion in compensation for losses to 184 stations in March of this year.
The Ministry of Science and ICT is promoting related institutional improvements to enable the introduction of next-generation Wi-Fi 7 in the same band.
Wi-Fi 7 uses the same band as Wi-Fi 6E, but it enables △ doubling the channel bandwidth compared to 6E, △ improving modulation and streaming methods, and △ introducing MLO (Multi Link Operation). In theory, the maximum transmission speed is expected to be 46 Gbps, which is about 2.4 to 4.8 times faster than 6/6E with speeds of 600 Mbps to 9.6 Gbps.
The Ministry of Science and ICT plans to revise the technical standards by the first half of this year to expand the bandwidth per channel from the current 160MHz to 320MHz in compliance with the Wi-Fi 7 standard.
After the introduction of Wi-Fi 7, when chipsets, APs, and smartphone terminals are applied, it is expected that not only will the quality of Wi-Fi services improve, but the scope of application will also expand to various areas such as XR and industrial robots.
In particular, the Ministry of Science and ICT announced in December last year that it would push for the replacement of aging Wi-Fi 4 and 5-based Wi-Fi (built between 2015 and 2017, 14,000 units) that have exceeded their service life (7 years) with Wi-Fi 7-based ones by 2025. Wi-Fi that is experiencing inconvenience due to malfunctions will be replaced on a trial basis starting in 2024 to improve quality.
Additionally, the Ministry of Science and ICT has stated that it will work to increase the speed of the wired network, which is the basis of Wi-Fi, to 10 Gbps to enable the use of public Wi-Fi.
Choi Byung-taek, director of the Ministry of Science and ICT’s Radio Policy Bureau, emphasized, “Wi-Fi is not only an essential service that allows people to conveniently use data in their daily lives, but it has also recently expanded into various industrial fields and become the foundation for digital innovation.” He added, “The government will continue to pursue improvements in Wi-Fi performance through institutional improvements so that it can be helpful to the people and industries.”