Here’s an important truth. All of those convenient wireless devices you have in your home – from smartphones, TVs, and laptops, to gaming devices, digital cameras, and more – need access to unlicensed spectrum. And if there’s not enough unlicensed spectrum, then there will be no devices that keep you connected.

This is not hyperbole. Here’s a real-life example. The SonyGroup Corporation, one of the largest and most respected manufacturers of consumer devices in the world, which took in $90 billion in global revenue last year, recently told the Indian government that without 6 GHz spectrum, the newest Sony PlayStation model would be unavailable in India.

It wasn’t out of spite. It wasn’t a trade dispute. It wasn’t a supply chain issue. It was the Indian government’s inability to make 6 GHz spectrum available to support Wi-Fi 7, on which the PlayStation 5 Pro runs.

Thanks to forward-thinking decisions by U.S. government leaders, American consumers are not faced with the same challenges as Indian consumers, for now, at least. In the first Trump Administration, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) was the first in the world to open the full 6 GHz band to Wi-Fi use, inviting Wi-Fi manufacturers to innovate and bring their best ideas to market. As President Trump recently said in reference to American leadership on Wi-Fi, “Never bet against American ingenuity.” Thanks to American Wi-Fi ingenuity, Americans can access the devices they need for work, school, and play.

6 GHz-enabled devices are now flowing freely into our economy. ABI Research recently found that 95 million 6 GHz-enabled devices entered the North American market in 2024. Those annual sales will continue to ramp up, with more than 300 million devices expected to enter the market in  2029.

The big cellular carriers, which strongly opposed the first Trump Administration’s action to bolster American Wi-Fi, continue to question the value of unlicensed spectrum. The reconciliation bill currently pending in the Senate may even leave the door open for the FCC to reverse its 2020 decision, leaving Americans with less spectrum bandwidth for Wi-Fi.

But as consumers in India are finding out, a lack of unlicensed spectrum has big consequences. As Wi-Fi becomes even more ubiquitous and as more and more devices rely on it, spectrum policy must follow suit. WifiForward has urged policymakers not just to preserve the spectrum already allocated, but to expand the spectrum footprint into 7125-7250 MHz to accommodate increasing demand and keep consumers connected to the devices we rely on every day.

What devices will Americans lose out on if we don’t have sufficient spectrum for Wi-Fi? Let’s not find out.

Postscript – the Indian government has finally started to move on opening 6 GHz spectrum to Wi-Fi.  Its proposal pales in comparison to the rules in place in the US, but it’s a start.