Summary

  • UK statutory instruments 2026/1131 and 1132 were made on 27 October and come into force on 10 November. The first specifies 5925–7125 MHz for registered dynamic spectrum access services; the second creates a conditional licence exemption for devices using that system.
  • Ofcom says a standard-power device obtains the frequencies and maximum transmit power available at its location through an approved AFC service. Providers must register with Ofcom. Its public registration page, checked on 2 November, lists no provider name.
  • This is a separate control path from the ordinary low-power 160 MHz Wi-Fi extension in instrument 1133. A date in a statute and a working AFC service are different evidence objects.

The machine gets a local answer

The latest British 6 GHz rule does not hand a stadium or a rural wireless link a fixed nationwide channel. It makes the answer depend on a device’s location and the protected users nearby. A registered Automated Frequency Coordination service, or AFC, receives the device’s technical details and returns the channels and power it may use. The governing decision is made repeatedly at the edge, not once in a minister’s speech.

Two statutory instruments supply the legal frame. SI 2026/1131 specifies the 5925–7125 MHz band for registered dynamic spectrum access services. SI 2026/1132 establishes an exemption for qualifying devices operating under AFC control. Both were made on 27 October and are due to start on 10 November. Ofcom’s July decision explains the operational purpose: enable higher-power indoor and outdoor Wi-Fi while protecting existing services and leaving room for later mobile use in the upper part of the band.

The person running the database matters. Ofcom says an AFC provider must apply and register before offering the service. Its public AFC page describes a register of approved providers but, as checked on 2 November, displays no registered name. A public legal route exists; the published roster has yet to identify a service that equipment can query. A named registration, together with a compatible device and operational AFC response, would change that assessment.

This is where the new rule differs from Ofcom’s other 27 October instrument. SI 2026/1133 extends ordinary licence-exempt Wi-Fi by 160 MHz to 6585 MHz under the October IR 2030 technical conditions. That low-power route has a published technical table. Standard-power operation in the broader 5925–7125 MHz band has an additional actor: the registered AFC service determines local availability and power. Treating the two exemptions as one “6 GHz opening” erases the operator that controls the second one.

For network builders, the immediate purchase question is specific. A radio claiming 6 GHz support does not tell a venue whether the device can use the AFC route, whether a registered service can answer it, or which channels the answer will allow at that site. For Ofcom, the governance question is equally concrete: who is registered, what conditions bind the service, and how will a radio behave when the answer changes? The statute is a start date. The first registered provider and usable response will be the operational test.

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