India Unlocks Faster WiFi for Millions of Users

If your WiFi has felt slower than it should be, relief is finally here.

India's Department of Telecommunications just freed up a massive chunk of wireless spectrum that will let your home internet run faster and smoother than ever before. On January 21, 2026, the government de-licensed half of the 6GHz band, opening the door for the latest WiFi technology to work at full power in Indian homes.

Here's why this matters. Most WiFi today runs on two frequencies: 2.4GHz for reaching far corners of your home, and 5GHz for faster speeds. But the newest WiFi standards, called WiFi 6E and WiFi 7, need a third frequency band at 6GHz to really shine.

Without access to 6GHz, routers sold in India had to disable key features, leaving users with internet that couldn't match what people in the U.S. and other countries enjoyed. The legal limbo even scared away major products. Sony refused to launch its PlayStation 5 Pro console in India specifically because the country hadn't cleared WiFi 7 frequencies.

The decision came after years of debate between tech companies pushing for free WiFi use and telecom carriers wanting to save the spectrum for future mobile networks. India chose a middle path, similar to some other countries, opening half the band for unlicensed use.

Starting now, the frequencies between 5,925 and 6,425MHz are open for WiFi in most indoor settings. Some restrictions remain for moving vehicles and oil rigs, but regular home and office use gets the green light.

The Ripple Effect

This change touches millions of daily experiences. Video calls will get clearer. Virtual reality headsets, which need to push huge amounts of data instantly, will work properly for the first time in India. Gamers will see reduced lag. And anyone working from home will notice their connection getting closer to the reliability of a wired ethernet cable.

Router manufacturers are expected to push software updates in the coming weeks to activate the 6GHz features they've been forced to keep switched off. If you bought a WiFi 6E or WiFi 7 router in the past year, you might soon get a free performance boost without buying anything new.

The PlayStation 5 Pro and other high-end gadgets that avoided the Indian market may finally make their way here too. What seemed like a small technical decision about radio frequencies actually kept cutting-edge technology out of reach for over a billion people.

Now that barrier is gone, and faster internet is coming home.