6 GHz: the FCC creates the geofenced GVP class

Author Hugues Orgitello Last updated 15 August 2026 ~3 min read

News · Regulatory evolution

Adopted on 29 January 2026 and released on 30 January, Order FCC 26-1 creates a class of unlicensed device in the 6 GHz band: geofenced variable power, or GVP. These transmit harder than today's portable devices, in exchange for a new constraint: operating under the control of a centralised geofencing system approved by the Commission.

In short:

A new GVP class in the U-NII-5 (5.925 to 6.425 GHz) and U-NII-7 (6.525 to 6.875 GHz) portions.
Access points: 11 dBm/MHz power spectral density and 24 dBm EIRP.
Clients: 5 dBm/MHz and 18 dBm, at least 6 dB below their access point.
Geofencing is centralised and FCC-approved; distributed architectures are excluded.

A third route between LPI and VLP

The US 6 GHz band has so far rested on two unlicensed regimes: low power indoor (LPI) and very low power (VLP), usable outdoors but at tightly constrained levels. GVP slots between them: more power than a portable device, so more range and throughput, but conditional on actively protecting incumbent services.

Device type	Power spectral density	EIRP
GVP access point	11 dBm/MHz	24 dBm
GVP client	5 dBm/MHz	18 dBm

A client must additionally stay at least 6 dB below the authorised level of its controlling access point. The U-NII-6 and U-NII-8 bands are not opened to this regime, the Commission having deferred them to a later decision.

Geofencing as a design constraint

This is what genuinely sets the class apart, and what weighs on design. A GVP device may only operate in tandem with a geofencing system whose job is to calculate exclusion zones around incumbent fixed microwave links and radio astronomy observatories.

The imposed characteristics:

Centralised architecture required. Distributed systems are excluded, and the system must be approved by the FCC before commercial operation.
The same propagation models and protection criteria as the AFC systems already running for standard power.
On-board geolocation for the access point, which must determine its position to avoid transmitting on prohibited frequencies inside an exclusion zone.
No geolocation required of the client, which operates under its access point's control.

For a designer this adds an operational dependency to the product: the access point must know where it is and talk to an approved third-party service. This is no longer simple emission compliance measured in a laboratory, but system compliance.

The gap with Europe widens

The decision deepens the divergence already described for the 6 GHz Wi-Fi band. In the United States the regulatory palette now holds low power indoor, very low power, AFC-coordinated standard power and geofenced variable power. In Europe the band remains more tightly framed, with no equivalent to standard power mode.

The practical consequence for a product sold on both sides of the Atlantic: the same radio hardware cannot use the same levels, and the design must provide for region-driven power control rather than a single setting.

What to take away

Nothing here is mandatory: this order opens a possibility, it imposes no compliance work on an existing product.
Using the GVP regime implies a system architecture, with access point geolocation and a dependency on an approved geofencing service.
The divergence with Europe is handled at design time, through a per-region power table rather than a hardware variant.