Upper 6 GHz (6425-7125 MHz): where the EU stands

Author Hugues Orgitello Last updated 19 August 2026 ~6 min read

News · Regulatory evolution

On 26 June 2026 the ECC approved CEPT Report 92, the first formal answer to the mandate the European Commission signed on 12 December 2024 covering 6425-7125 MHz. The RSPG had already recommended a split of that band between mobile and Wi-Fi in November 2025. No Commission implementing decision covers the upper band even so: what exists is a process, a timetable and a set of coexistence studies, not yet an applicable framework.

In short:

WRC-23 identified 6425-7125 MHz for IMT in Region 1 (RR No. 5.457E): no new allocation, no priority.
The Commission mandate to CEPT is dated 12 December 2024: three tasks, last deliverable due July 2027.
RSPG25-031 of 12 November 2025: prioritised use of 6585-7125 MHz for mobile, 160 MHz frozen as a guard band until WRC-27.
CEPT Report 92 of 26 June 2026 answers Task 1, coexistence with incumbent services.
No EU implementing decision opens the upper band: nothing there is certifiable today.

What WRC-23 did, and what it did not do

WRC-23 added a provision to the Radio Regulations identifying 6425-7125 MHz in Region 1, which includes the EU, and 7025-7125 MHz in Region 3, for administrations wishing to implement the terrestrial component of IMT. Numbered 5.6A12 in the Provisional Final Acts, it appears as RR No. 5.457E in the WRC-23 Final Acts, the form in which the RSPG and CEPT cite it. An identification, not an allocation.

The wording matters: the identification does not preclude use of the band by any application of the services to which it is allocated, establishes no priority, and records that the band is also used by wireless access systems including radio local area networks. The RSPG draws the direct conclusion that Europe retains full flexibility between IMT, RLAN and shared use.

Resolution 220 (WRC-23) caps the expected e.i.r.p. spectral density of an IMT base station as a function of elevation angle, in order to protect satellite uplinks.

Elevation angle	Expected e.i.r.p. spectral density
0-5°	27 dBm/MHz
5-10°	23 dBm/MHz
10-15°	19 dBm/MHz
15-20°	18 dBm/MHz
20-30°	16 dBm/MHz
30-90°	15 dBm/MHz

It also requires site-specific coordination in 6700-7075 MHz to protect satellite downlinks, and invites administrations to protect radio astronomy in 6650-6675.2 MHz under No. 5.149.

The mandate of 12 December 2024

Acting under Article 4(2) of the Radio Spectrum Decision, Decision No 676/2002/EC of 7 March 2002, the Commission asked CEPT to study the feasibility of shared use of 6425-7125 MHz between terrestrial systems capable of providing wireless broadband electronic communications services (WBB ECS, the licensed mobile side) and wireless access systems including radio local area networks (WAS/RLAN, the Wi-Fi side), then to develop the least restrictive harmonised technical conditions. Reference Ares(2024)8891662, signed 12 December 2024. Both families are to be treated equally and without any order of preference; if shared use does not prove feasible, CEPT is to propose an alternative recommended scenario.

Three tasks are defined: coexistence with incumbent users (final Report A targeted for March 2026), feasibility of sharing between the two systems (final Report B in July or November 2026 depending on the draft date), and harmonised technical conditions (final Report C in July 2027). The closing paragraph commits to nothing: the Commission may consider applying the results in the EU, pursuant to Article 4 of the Radio Spectrum Decision. Its register of CEPT mandates lists no more recent 6 GHz mandate.

The November 2025 RSPG opinion: a prioritised split

The RSPG adopted RSPG25-031 FINAL, its opinion on the long-term vision for the upper 6 GHz band, on 12 November 2025. This is advisory, not a legal act: it creates no obligation on a manufacturer. Of the five options examined, ranging from handing the whole band to Wi-Fi to handing all of it to mobile, the prioritised split prevailed: the model is that each application holds non-prioritised access to the other's portion where it causes no harmful interference, though the RSPG first asks CEPT to establish whether that is technically feasible.

Segment	Width	RSPG recommendation
6585-7125 MHz	540 MHz	Prioritised use for full power MFCN; CEPT to investigate non-prioritised WAS/RLAN use inside this segment
6425-6585 MHz	160 MHz	Guard band, together with a block edge mask (BEM) on MFCN above it, protecting Wi-Fi in the lower band; released to neither side until WRC-27

What happens to those 160 MHz depends on WRC-27, which may identify the adjacent 7125-7250 MHz band for IMT. If it does, the RSPG sees a strong case for designating 6425-6585 MHz for primary WAS/RLAN use; if it does not, for primary MFCN use. The decision is deferred, not taken. The RSPG also sees no immediate significant spectrum need in Europe, while asking for a clear direction well before 2030, and restates the need for continuous operation of WAS/RLAN in the lower 5945-6425 MHz band under the harmonised conditions of Commission Decision (EU) 2021/1067.

Point 11 of section 5.3 states where things actually stand: this scenario could form the basis of an implementing decision limited to 6585-7125 MHz, but CEPT has not completed its assessment.

CEPT Report 92: what the studies conclude

CEPT Report 92 answers Task 1. It rests on ECC Report 375 for mobile (6 March 2026) and ECC Report 364 for Wi-Fi (24 January 2025).

Incumbent service	WAS/RLAN (Wi-Fi)	WBB ECS (mobile)
Fixed service	Co-channel sharing feasible if LPI is restricted to indoor use (wired connection, integrated antenna, no battery power, no enclosure built for outdoor exposure)	Co-channel only through site-specific coordination: 42 to 321 km in the main beam, 2 to 56 km outside it
Satellite uplink	Feasible when LPI operation stays indoors	No CEPT study, the Resolution 220 e.i.r.p. masks apply
Satellite downlink	Feasible; four European earth stations studied, all meeting the I/N ≤ -10.5 dB criterion	Feasible with site-specific coordination, 12 to 30 km
Radio astronomy	Feasible with mitigation (exclusion zone, power reduction) or exclusion from 6650-6675.2 MHz	Feasible with site-specific coordination, 60 to 220 km or 150 (or 130) to 380 km in band

The report is explicit about the assumptions that bound those conclusions: 100 MHz channels for mobile, 20 to 320 MHz for Wi-Fi, mobile terminals of ETSI power class 3 (23 dBm) with no fixed-wireless CPE modelled at all, and on the Wi-Fi side only the LPI (200 mW mean e.i.r.p., no outdoor use allowed) and VLP (25 mW, indoor and outdoor) regimes. Any higher power, or any outdoor use, would require further investigation. Current occupancy explains European caution: 20 European countries operate 12,554 fixed links in the band (ECC Report 173, June 2023).

The open point concerns the lower band

For WAS/RLAN in the adjacent 5945-6425 MHz band, CEPT Report 92 records that the results span a range of interference probabilities from mobile into Wi-Fi, with and without frequency separation, depending on the assumptions and methodologies used; ECC Report 375 reached no conclusion on whether frequency separation is needed. Whether a mobile deployment in 6585-7125 MHz will disturb the Wi-Fi access points already installed just below it therefore has no settled answer.

What this changes for a product today

Nothing, in the strict regulatory sense. No harmonised standard covers 6425-7125 MHz: the European Wi-Fi 6 GHz framework stops at 6425 MHz, as set out in our article on EN 303 687 and Wi-Fi 6E / Wi-Fi 7. The list of active CEPT Reports holds a single report tied to this mandate, Report 92: the Task 2 report is not published.

The only signal addressed to manufacturers comes from RSPG26-013 FINAL of 16 June 2026 on the 6G spectrum roadmap: the RSPG treats the upper 6 GHz band as the primary band for introducing 6G in Europe by 2030, with at least 540 MHz of contiguous spectrum depending on the WRC-27 outcome, and expects the mandate response by 2027. It encourages consumer equipment manufacturers to treat 6425-7250 MHz as one consistent block, whatever range is finally harmonised, to avoid market fragmentation: a hardware design steer, not an authorisation to transmit.

The gap with the United States is covered in our article on the FCC geofenced variable power class: the US rules say nothing about what the EU will allow.