Subway Wi-Fi to Get Faster... Relaxation of 6E Output Standard Regulations

Output Standard Raised from 25 to 250 mW
Administrative Notice of Draft Revision

[Asia Economy Reporter Cha Min-young] The government has accepted the telecommunications industry's request to relax the output standards for the 6 GHz band to enable smooth use of Wi-Fi 6E inside subway cars, and will raise the output standards for part of the related frequency band.

The Ministry of Science and ICT announced on the 21st that it has given administrative notice of a revision to the technical notification containing these details. The revision mainly raises the output standard for a 500 MHz bandwidth (5925?6425 MHz) within the 6 GHz band from the existing 25 mW to 250 mW.

According to the Ministry of Science and ICT, Wi-Fi 6E using the 6 GHz band (5925?7125 MHz) offers speeds up to five times faster than the existing Wi-Fi 6 and supports more than 1.5 times the number of simultaneous connections. In October last year, the Ministry limited the Wi-Fi 6E output inside subways to 25 mW to prevent interference with existing wireless stations while supplying the 6 GHz band for Wi-Fi 6E.

The industry has requested the Ministry of Science and ICT to relax the output standards for the 6 GHz band to enable smooth use of Wi-Fi 6E inside subway cars. The Ministry formed a research team of experts from industry, academia, and research institutes to conduct interference experiments and stakeholder consultations, leading to the preparation of the notification revision.

The Ministry plans to raise the output while limiting the Wi-Fi 6E usage range inside subways to 5925?6425 MHz. When the output is increased to 250 mW, the Wi-Fi 6E coverage will expand enough to allow Wi-Fi 6E use throughout a single subway car.

The government plans to conduct administrative notice of this notification revision from December 22 this year to February 21 next year to collect additional opinions. The revision can be viewed on the Ministry of Science and ICT website and the National Law Information Center.

Choi Woo-hyuk, Director of the Radio Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Science and ICT, said, "From the perspective of improving the quality of public services like subway Wi-Fi, we boldly decided on this regulatory relaxation. As the three major telecommunications companies are jointly cooperating to expand the subway demonstration results to the main lines of the Seoul subway, we will continue to provide policy support including this regulatory relaxation."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.