Ofcom 6 GHz licence exemption starts 10 November

If radio spectrum sounds abstract, this law is a good reminder that it is really about who gets to send signals, where, and without knocking someone else offline. In a statutory instrument published on legislation.gov.uk, Ofcom has created a new licence exemption for certain devices using the 5925 to 7125 MHz band. The measure is called the Wireless Telegraphy (Dynamic Spectrum Access Devices) (Exemption) Regulations 2026. It was made on 27 October 2026 and comes into force on 10 November 2026. It applies across the UK, but not in the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man.

The big change is simple enough to say, even if the legal drafting is not: some dynamic spectrum access devices will not need their own wireless telegraphy licence under the Wireless Telegraphy Act 2006, as long as they obey a detailed set of technical conditions. That matters because a licence exemption is not the same as a free-for-all. It is permission to operate only inside a carefully drawn rulebook. **What this means:** Ofcom is opening the door to more use of this 6 GHz band, but only where devices can show they will stay within power and frequency limits designed to reduce interference.

Much of the rulebook turns on something called an AFC system, short for automated frequency co-ordination. In practice, the device, or the access point controlling it, has to check in with an Ofcom-registered system that works out what transmissions are suitable at that exact location. To do that, the device must provide its latitude and longitude, the height of its antenna, its uncertainty about that location, and a unique identifier. The AFC system then returns the operational parameters: which channels or frequency ranges may be used, plus the maximum power limits for each. **Why the 24-hour check matters:** a standard power access point or fixed client must ask again every 24 hours and every time it powers on. If it cannot reconnect, it may keep using the last settings for one more 24-hour period, and then it must stop transmitting until fresh settings are received. The rules also say users must not be able to reconfigure AFC-related settings in a way that changes those core details.

Ofcom splits these devices into three groups. A standard power access point is the anchor. It must stay in a fixed location, have geo-location capability, and be able to obtain limits from the AFC system. A fixed client device is similar in power and location requirements, but it does not pass those limits on to other clients. A mobile client device is the roaming one, but even that freedom is tightly limited. For standard power access points and fixed client devices, the maximum power spectral density is 23 dBm per MHz and the maximum EIRP within a channel is 36 dBm, with a maximum nominal bandwidth of 320 MHz. Mobile client devices are capped lower, at 17 dBm per MHz and no more than 30 dBm EIRP, and they must also sit at least 6 dB below their associated standard power access point.

The conditions on behaviour are just as important as the headline permission. Standard power access points may operate in the band only after they have received operational parameters from an AFC system, and only within those limits. Fixed client devices must also stay inside AFC limits, although the regulations allow a narrower low-power route when a fixed client is communicating with a standard power access point to obtain those parameters, capped at 17 dBm per MHz and 30 dBm EIRP. Mobile client devices cannot simply wander off and form their own mesh. Under the regulations, a mobile client must be connected to a standard power access point, must not connect to another mobile client or to a fixed client, and must not be used in a moving vehicle. All of the exempt devices must operate on land, not elsewhere.

There is also a quieter part of the law that does a lot of protective work: the rules on emissions outside the chosen channel. Regulation 13 says a device’s power must fall away sharply beyond its nominal channel, starting at 20 dB down 1 MHz from the channel edge and tightening to 47 dB down at wider separations, with set points in between. The drafting is technical, but the lesson is familiar: stay in your lane, and do not spill unwanted signal into someone else’s. The regulations also tie devices to interference-mitigation techniques that are at least equivalent to the ETSI 6 GHz WAS/RLAN standard EN 303 687 v1.1.1, dated June 2023. That tells you this is not just about who may use spectrum, but how cleanly they must use it.

For readers who do not spend their day with telecoms law, the most useful takeaway is this: Ofcom has not made 6 GHz use licence-free in a blanket way. It has created a conditional exemption, backed by automated checking, fixed power ceilings, location controls and shut-off rules if the system cannot verify safe operation. That is why this small statutory instrument matters as a media-literacy story as well as a telecoms one. On legislation.gov.uk, the text looks dense and forbidding. But once you translate it, it is a piece of public rule-making about sharing a limited resource fairly. Ofcom’s own explanatory note also points readers to a full regulatory impact assessment on its website, which is a useful reminder that even very technical regulation leaves a paper trail you can follow.