I wasn’t sure what existing thread to put this in. Looks like Canada and Qualcomm are first to put things in ink on 6ghz AFC.
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So what does this mean for us who look to deploying 6GHz in the near future? Sorry for my ignorance on the topic.
I’m probably just about as ignorant, but 6 Ghz is ‘licensed’ in a way, so that not just anybody can use it willy nilly. The idea is that every 6 Ghz radio (made by any manufacturer) will all have to check a database, and make sure it’s allowed to use the channel, and the power, in that location.
That’s the Automatic Frequency Coordination (or AFC) where your 6 Ghz AP’s will check with a database and makes sure you’re coordinated, and to make sure you and your neighbors don’t start interfering with each other… it’s meant to help mitigate the Wild Wild West. And an ‘AFC system administrator’ is the company that oversees and runs such a database - in this case Qualcomm.
So, this press release thing basically means that (in Canada) there is an AFC agreement in place now, whereas in other countries, they are still waiting to set those up. The article says that Canada is actually 1st in the World to have an AFC agreement in place.
Okay awesome, thank you for the clarification. As per the article I thought that one would have to have a qualcomm setup at tower site along side the cambium equipment. Thanks again.
I am not sure if this is actually good news, but it is news. I am hoping they dont clone the Federated CBRS system/model as that is a disaster!
Another note is the ISED/Government was worried about our bands sensitive users, so much so that there was a need to not only have a Canadian company but also there was talk about security issues that were still unresolved.
as for 6GHZ in Canada, the ISED and CRTC have not allowed any real use of the band yet and there are incumbents that must have their systems “protected” before we even get to sniff at 6ghz equipment. If you thought US CBRS was slow to setup, Canada has so far taken twice that time and looks to be taking another year or more to get things in place.
We have wifi6e wifi AP for indoor use at low power (that is if the device manufacturers actually followed the rules) but these are not really out there yet up here. I still think that this was a waste of spectrum for wifi use, should have kept it to service providers in a light license model.
Just to clarify.
The Canadian government has awarded the contract. That is far from operational.
Being the government, it will be months (or more) before they sort out the operational part.
As of right now, everything is still in the “experimental license” phase.
If you applied and received an experimental license, it’s good until early 2024.
Hopefully by then it’s “operational” 
