When you think of Wi-Fi, you likely think about your day-to-day access to the internet. You might envision video calls with loved ones, emailing work colleagues, or scrolling social media at an airport. In fact, up to 90% of all mobile device traffic is carried on Wi-Fi. And what most Americans don’t realize is the tremendous positive impact Wi-Fi has on our economy. A recent report assesses Wi-Fi’s significant economic value—and how it continues to grow.

Key findings:

• In 2027, the annual U.S. economic value of Wi-Fi is projected to reach $2.4 trillion, including an estimated $514 billion in consumer benefit, $624 billion in producer surplus, and $1.29 trillion in GDP contribution.

• Opening the 7 GHz band for unlicensed Wi-Fi use will generate at least $79.62 billion in cumulative economic value between 2025 and 2027, with yearly values increasing significantly over time.

• The FCC’s April 2020 decision to allocate additional unlicensed spectrum in the 6 GHz band was a massive policy success that alone generated an estimated $870 billion of incremental economic value in 2023 and 2024 – projected to increase to $1.2 trillion by 2027.

Think about your household and workplace: how many Wi-Fi connected devices do your family members and coworkers use on a daily basis? In just a short amount of time, the number of devices and data traffic over Wi-Fi has significantly increased in the U.S. and shows no signs of slowing down.

The study concludes:

Wi-Fi’s rapidly increasing social and economic value, along with rising consumer demand, justifies policies that allow Wi-Fi and other unlicensed technologies to continue to grow – starting with the 7 GHz band.

At WifiForward, we are proud to advocate for forward-thinking policies that allow Wi-Fi and other unlicensed spectrum technologies to keep pace with consumer demand, foster innovation, and continue adding tremendous value to the U.S. economy.