Latin America. In these past few weeks, I often hear the question, what is the most important connectivity technology? is it 5G? is it WiFi 6? And this is because in the American continent there have been a series of events and public consultations in different countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Colombia and Costa Rica, among others, to analyze what is the best use of the 6 GHz band.
In the American continent 8 countries have already made the regulatory decision to allow the use of devices that use unlicensed spectrum (such as WiFi 6) throughout this band creating an important trend in the Western Hemisphere, these countries are: United States, Canada, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Costa Rica, Honduras and Guatemala.
The reality is that both technologies are complementary and this is due to 5 main reasons:
- Both technologies are designed and are being developed on the same foundation: to allow significantly more data traffic, with new applications increasing the capacity of networks with the ability to connect many more devices and users.
- Both will coexist and work better together to enable different use cases providing a better experience to consumers, mobile workers and public and private organizations.
WiFi 6 will be the preferred network for indoor spaces with significant improvements in speed, latency and higher density of connected devices, even in spaces of mass use such as stadiums or conventions.
- For its part, 5G will be preferred in outdoor networks, even when the use and business cases have not been tested, connected cars, drones and smart cities will be connected to 5G networks.
- Above all, WiFI 6 and 5G offer us the opportunity to expand the possibilities of digitalization across multiple industries and sectors increasing their productivity.
In the case of WiFi 6 there are statistics that demonstrate complementarity with 5G. According to Cisco, 51% of IP traffic in networks of all kinds globally begins or ends in a WiFi network and by 2022, it is estimated that 71% of mobile traffic in 5G networks will be downloaded to WiFi 6 networks, a concept better known as off-loading, which allows decongesting mobile networks, allow savings in data consumption and generate efficiency in speed and stability of the connection to the network.
Moreover, WiFi is already generating value in the global economy. According to the WiFi Alliance, the economic value created by this technology globally will go from 2 trillion dollars to 3.5 trillion in the year 2023.
According to a recent study published by the Dynamic Spectrum Alliance, the accumulated economic value between 2021 and 2030 resulting from the designation of the 6 GHz band for free use in Colombia, would add up to US$ 40.42 billion, distributed in US$ 28.14 billion contribution to GDP, US$ 6.21 billion in producer surplus (which includes margins for technology suppliers, savings in telecommunications expenses for companies, and savings in capital investment of cellular operators) and US$ 6.07 billion in surplus of the Colombian consumer in terms of low cost per Mbps and higher broadband speeds.
WiFi 6 is the next big step in this technological evolution as it allows substantial increases in traffic speed, significantly reduces latency, increases the operational efficiency of devices and generates significant energy savings.
In Colombia, according to figures from the ICT Ministry and its most recent Connectivity Report, the number of fixed internet connections grew by 51% in the first 3 months of 2021, compared to the same period of 2020. For its part, the national average download speed of fixed Internet during the first quarter of 2021 for the corporate segment was 50.4 Mbps, while in the residential segment it stood at an average of 38.5 Mbps, in this way the country continues to take important steps to increase the total connection nationwide.
It is here where we highlight the importance of regulatory entities prioritizing the study of different proposals for changes in the national frequency plan, to delve into the benefits and implications of using the 6 GHz band for unlicensed spectrum in Colombia. And it is that in Cisco we consider that the coexistence of different technologies in this band is possible and, in addition, necessary, given the growth of IP traffic in which a single technology can not be enough on its own if we want to take advantage of the potential that digital transformation offers.
With 8 Western countries that made the regulatory decision to allow the use of devices in the unlicensed spectrum (such as WiFi 6) this is a great opportunity for the competent authorities in Colombia to join the regional effort, thus offering benefits for the national economy, companies and citizens in this digital economy.
Text written by Mario de la Cruz Sarabia, MBA. Senior Director of Government Relations, Cisco Latin America.
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