Written by Pete Young | July 2025
It has been over a year since the FCC approved the first Automatic Frequency Coordination (AFC) System Operators in the United States, enabling unlicensed devices in the 6 GHz bands (5925-6425 MHz and 6525-6875 MHz) to transmit both indoors and outdoors at standard power levels. These devices may be Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 access points or fixed wireless access devices.
AFC systems are essential for enabling unlicensed access to these frequency bands while ensuring coexistence with licensed fixed point-to-point microwave systems. These microwave systems have served as the foundation of cellular, long-haul, and private communication networks across the U.S. for decades and hold primary rights to this spectrum.
This paper explores whether this novel approach to sharing spectrum has changed the licensees’ sentiment on use of 6 GHz spectrum as a viable solution for their networks. It also compares use of the 6 GHz band by industry type (such as telecom and utilities) to that of other microwave bands to answer the question as to whether any perceptible decline in use is correlated to overall decline in that industry or whether the decline indicates a shift to other bands.
The primary conclusion of this paper finds that the use of the 6 GHz band for licensed microwave networks continues to grow, both in the amount of spectrum licensed and in the capacity per path. It also concludes that alternative licensed bands such as 11 and 18 GHz are more attractive due to capacity and economics.
At Comsearch, we field many questions from both 6 GHz licensees and operators who are either using or interested in using unlicensed 6 GHz, and often the questions are the same: “what’s going on in 6 GHz? Is it viable for what I need?
Take a deep dive with us into the current state of the 6 GHz band and see what trends we’ve outlined in our latest white paper:
Licensed 6 GHz Systems: Fixed Point-to-Point Trends
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Pete Young is a Distinguished Engineer at Comsearch, an ANDREW Company. With over 30 years of spectrum management and software development lifecycle experience, Pete is responsible for several of Comsearch’s spectrum management products, most notably the 6 GHz AFC System and the 70/80/90 GHz Link Registration System. Within the Wireless Innovation Forum, he is a board member and chairs the 6 GHz Steering Group and the 6 GHz Incumbent Information Task Group. He supported Nextel’s 800 MHz rebanding project, writing software requirements for a Frequency Analysis Program (FAP) which allowed Nextel to efficiently repack their spectrum to mitigate interference with public safety systems. Pete is a member of IEEE and holds a patent related to spectrum management. He received a B.S. and M.S. degree in electrical engineering from Virginia Tech. |