Introduction
UK businesses should plan their next office and warehouse Wi-Fi upgrades around the lower 6 GHz band and the small Wi-Fi priority slice above it, with better design and more access points, rather than counting on the wider upper band, because most of that band has been earmarked for mobile networks. In November 2025 the EU's Radio Spectrum Policy Group prioritised 6585 to 7125 MHz for mobile, and Ofcom has since made the same 540 MHz a mobile priority portion in the UK. Wi-Fi gets guaranteed access to 160 MHz more, not 700.
By the numbers
Upper 6 GHz spectrum, 6585 to 7125 MHz, that Ofcom made a mobile priority portion
Wi-Fi priority slice, 6425 to 6585 MHz, that Wi-Fi can rely on above the lower band
Wi-Fi 7 chipset shipments in 2026, in ABI Research estimates the Wi-Fi Alliance cites
Europe has put mobile first in the upper 6 GHz band
The upper 6 GHz band runs from 6425 to 7125 MHz. Both mobile operators and the Wi-Fi industry wanted all of it. On 12 November 2025 the RSPG opinion settled the European direction. It agreed a prioritised use of 6585 to 7125 MHz for mobile networks and kept 6425 to 6585 MHz as a guard band protecting Wi-Fi in the lower 6 GHz band, with a decision on the exact use of that 160 MHz to follow the World Radiocommunication Conference in 2027.
The reasoning is not hard to follow. The opinion records that the mobile industry indicated a need of 200 MHz for each operator, and judged the upper 6 GHz band the most suitable place to find it. The technical work is still under way: the Commission's mandate to CEPT has deliverables due in March 2026, November 2026 and July 2027. But the policy direction for the continent is set, and it does not give Wi-Fi the whole band.
Britain has opened the full band to Wi-Fi, on conditions
Ofcom has gone further than Europe, but in a carefully managed way. Its statement on expanding access to the 6 GHz band creates a Wi-Fi priority portion in the lower 160 MHz of the upper band, 6425 to 6585 MHz, available on the same licence exempt basis as the lower 6 GHz band, including low power indoor use. The upper 540 MHz, 6585 to 7125 MHz, becomes a mobile priority portion. Wi-Fi may use that part too, but only for devices under the control of an Automated Frequency Coordination system, so that its use can be managed as mobile networks arrive.
The Wi-Fi Alliance welcomed this in July 2026 as making the UK the first country in Europe with a framework for Wi-Fi across the entire 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band, 5925 to 7125 MHz. That is true, and it is good news. It is also easy to misread. Licence exempt access to the mobile priority portion is conditional and temporary in practice, because Ofcom's framework exists to give mobile operators certainty that the top 540 MHz will be theirs when demand develops.
Wi-Fi spectrum a business can count on
The spectrum a business can rely on is smaller than the headline
Put the two decisions together and the planning picture is clear. In the UK, a business can count on the lower 6 GHz band of 500 MHz, from 5925 to 6425 MHz, plus the 160 MHz Wi-Fi priority slice. In EU countries, the lower band is 5945 to 6425 MHz according to the RSPG, and the slice above it remains a guard band until after 2027. Everything else in the upper band is, at best, a bonus that may shrink.
That matters for the feature vendors lead with. The Wi-Fi Alliance describes 320 MHz channels in the 6 GHz band as giving Wi-Fi 7 twice the throughput of Wi-Fi 6. The EU's 480 MHz lower band, or the UK's 500 MHz, has room for only one non-overlapping 320 MHz channel. The RSPG opinion itself notes that opening the upper band would provide more non-overlapping 80 MHz and 160 MHz channels and further 320 MHz channels. Without it, a dense office floor cannot run many 320 MHz access points side by side without them interfering with each other.
Capacity in a busy office comes from design, not from channel width
The good news is that most business Wi-Fi problems are not caused by a shortage of 320 MHz channels. They come from too few access points, poorly placed ones, 2.4 GHz clients dragging down shared airtime, and networks that were designed for laptops and now carry video calls, scanners and sensors. More cells with narrower channels usually serve a crowded floor better than a few cells with very wide ones. The RSPG opinion makes the same point in its own terms, noting that more non-overlapping 80 MHz and 160 MHz channels help access point planning in places such as schools and hospitals.
Wi-Fi 7 equipment is mature. The Wi-Fi Alliance introduced its Wi-Fi 7 certification in 2024 and cites ABI Research estimates of 1.4 billion Wi-Fi 7 chipset shipments in 2026. Buying it now is reasonable. The mistake is to justify the purchase on 320 MHz channels across a whole building, or to delay a needed refresh until more spectrum turns up.
How Ofcom splits the upper 6 GHz band
The strongest objection is that waiting for the full band is cheaper
The fair objection goes like this. Ofcom has already authorised Wi-Fi across the full 6 GHz band. Automated Frequency Coordination systems will allow higher power and outdoor use, and the mobile priority portion may sit unused by mobile for years in many places. A firm that waits a year or two could buy kit that uses all 1200 MHz and get far more capacity per access point, avoiding a second refresh.
Part of this is right. Mobile deployment in the upper band will start in dense urban areas, as Ofcom's earlier consultation announcement said, and a rural warehouse may enjoy the mobile priority portion for a long time. Buying access points that support the upper band and Automated Frequency Coordination is sensible. But two points cut against waiting. First, the extra spectrum is conditional: Wi-Fi in the mobile priority portion runs only under database control and must make way as mobile arrives, which is exactly where city offices are. Second, any firm with sites in EU countries cannot use the upper band at all for now, so a design that depends on it will not travel. Delaying a refresh costs real productivity now in exchange for spectrum that may not be there when it is needed.
Multi-site firms face two rulebooks
British firms with offices or warehouses in Ireland, the Netherlands or Germany should expect their access points to behave differently either side of the Channel. The same Wi-Fi 7 model may offer the 6425 to 6585 MHz slice and Automated Frequency Coordination channels in Manchester but only the lower band in Dublin. That is manageable if the network is designed to the common minimum and treats the extra UK spectrum as headroom. It is painful if the head office design assumes every site gets the same channels.
| Region | Lower band | Above the lower band |
|---|---|---|
| UK | 5925 to 6425 MHz, 500 MHz | 6425 to 6585 MHz is a Wi-Fi priority portion; 6585 to 7125 MHz is a mobile priority portion that Wi-Fi may use only under Automated Frequency Coordination |
| EU countries | 5945 to 6425 MHz, 480 MHz | 6425 to 6585 MHz stays a guard band until after the 2027 conference; 6585 to 7125 MHz is prioritised for mobile |
What a UK business should do before its next refresh
By the end of the first quarter of 2027, the IT lead should commission a predictive and on-site survey of each office or warehouse due for an upgrade, designed around the lower 6 GHz band and the 160 MHz Wi-Fi priority slice, using 80 MHz or 160 MHz channels on busy floors. Wide 320 MHz channels should be kept for specific areas such as boardrooms or labs where few access points overlap.
When buying, specify Wi-Fi 7 access points with 6 GHz support across the full band and Automated Frequency Coordination capability, so the firm can take whatever extra UK spectrum appears without a further purchase. Firms with EU sites should write one design standard based on the EU lower band and treat UK extras as optional. Finally, move legacy 2.4 GHz devices onto their own network or retire them. None of this needs to wait for the 2027 conference, and none of it will be wasted whichever way the spectrum finally falls.
The mistake is to justify the purchase on 320 MHz channels across a whole building, or to delay a needed refresh until more spectrum turns up.
Where we land
We will keep writing these as we find them. If any of this lands close to a problem you are working on, the team is always happy to talk it through.
