European leaders claim they want to compete in the global digital economy, but in reality, Brussels has spent years pushing some of the world’s strictest technology regulations – rules that are increasingly discouraging investment and hampering innovation.
From excessive regulation of platforms to market-distorting antitrust actions, European policies are discouraging tech investment and driving innovation elsewhere. Venture capital and R&D spending continue to move out of Europe towards regions with more innovation-friendly environments.
Unfortunately, the European Commission looks poised to make another high-profile misstep. Its recent opinion to hand the upper 6 GHz band over to exclusive licensed use threatens to undermine global Wi-Fi leadership, hurt consumers and hand a strategic win directly to China. This is bad policy and a geopolitical blunder and would undermine ongoing European efforts to reduce Chinese influence in telecom infrastructure by effectively caving to Beijing’s global campaign against U.S.-led Wi-Fi innovation.
For all the attention given to 5G and 6G, Wi-Fi remains the quiet — and often overlooked — workhorse of the global internet. It powers everything from remote work and telehealth to industrial automation and education. In fact, here in the U.S., 80% – 90% of mobile internet traffic flows over Wi-Fi – not cellular networks.
And Wi-Fi innovation isn’t slowing down — Wi-Fi 7 is already rolling out, and Wi-Fi 8 is coming fast. With each generation, Wi-Fi continues to evolve, bringing real advances and impact that match the pace of the industry.
The economic upside is staggering. A recent study found that if the U.S. had not made the full 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use, the American economy would forfeit more than $2.1 trillion in value between 2025 and 2027 alone. That’s quite the warning shot, and a clear sign that Wi-Fi is one of the most powerful economic multipliers of the digital age.
Fortunately, the U.S. made the right call, and it paid off. In 2020, during the first Trump administration, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) made the full 1200 MHz of the 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use, paving the way for the next generation of Wi-Fi. That single decision ignited a wave of faster speeds, lower latency, and more capacity. The innovation touched everything from smart factories and precision agriculture to next-generation AR and VR.
Today the United States leads the world in deploying these technologies, and that leadership isn’t accidental.
As Deputy Director of the National Economic Council Robin Colwell recently noted, the U.S. fought tooth and nail to ensure American leadership in Wi-Fi – the very leadership that Europe now risks undermining.
NTIA Administrator Arielle Roth went even further: “Born in America, led by America, Wi-Fi remains an area where we dominate, and we must continue to invest in this important technology. With Wi-Fi, the race has already been won. China knows it cannot compete and for that reason looks for ways to sabotage the very ingenuity that made Wi-Fi a global standard.”
They are right. China has long pushed international bodies to designate exclusive licensed use of the upper 6 GHz band, a move that would give its state-aligned mobile giants, like Huawei and ZTE, a structural advantage over Western Wi-Fi innovators. By echoing China’s preferred approach, Europe is undermining its own goals of technological sovereignty and digital leadership.
Exclusive mobile-only allocations would further delay and restrict access to the latest Wi-Fi technologies and speeds for European consumers, startups, public institutions, universities, hospitals, manufacturers and countless small businesses, undermine their investments in fiber broadband, and concentrate power among a small group of mobile operators that will take years to develop an equipment ecosystem
Those mobile operators, perhaps not surprisingly, recently praised Europe’s spectrum blunder – and encouraged the U.S. to follow suit. Thankfully, U.S. Administration officials shot down that idea and pledged to defend the first Trump Administration’s Wi-Fi wins. Good luck convincing anyone in Washington that the U.S. should abandon its global leadership to follow Brussels and Beijing down another tech policy dead-end.
The global economy is being defined by speed, flexibility and innovation, but Europe is embracing scarcity and control. What’s needed now is leadership, not retreat.
The U.S. has already demonstrated what works: unlock and democratize the spectrum, energize the economy. As countries gather in global forums to shape the future of connectivity, they should reject China’s model of centralized control and Europe’s history of regulatory overreach. Instead, they should follow the U.S. approach – one that promotes open innovation and competition.
Cory Gardner is a former U.S. Senator and Member of Congress from Colorado who was named President & CEO of NCTA – The Internet & Television Association in September 2025. In this role, Cory leads one of the largest trade associations in Washington, D.C., representing the connectivity and content industries.
Op-eds from industry experts, analysts or our editorial staff are opinion pieces that do not represent the opinions of Fierce Network.