The Wireless Broadband Alliance’s (WBA) annual report includes a survey finding that 60% of respondents believe Wi-Fi and 5G are keys to enterprise flexibility and will co-exist.
The report, entitled “WBA Industry Report 2026,” found that 38% of respondents plan to roll out Wi-Fi 7 in 2025 or 2026. About a third of respondents — 32% — plan to roll out artificial intelligence (AI)/cognitive networks. Sixty-five percent say that the availability of 6 GHz is important or critical to their Wi-Fi business and 62% have grown more confident in Wi-Fi during the past year.
The survey found that smart home Internet of Things (IoT) needs will likely experience the highest network and traffic growth level, at 36%. It is followed by AI (33%) and industrial/manufacturing application and IoT at 24%. Forty-one percent of respondents expect stadiums/event venues to be the leader of network and traffic growth, at 41%.
Sixty percent of enterprise respondents said that combining 5G and private would give their enterprise greater flexibility. The survey found that 38% have deployed OpenRoaming and/or Passpoint-compliant networks; an additional 32% want to deploy them next year and 18% plan to do so in 2027.
The report found that citywide public Wi-Fi has been deployed by 33% of respondents, with an additional 39% planning to do so in the 2026-2027 timeframe.
“This year’s WBA Industry Report survey makes it clear that the Wi-Fi community has moved to building the next generation of converged connectivity and the momentum is strong: Wi-Fi 7 and AI-driven networks, which can cut costs, while improving the operational efficiency, performance and reliability of networks are at the top of deployment plans,” WBA President and CEO Tiago Rodrigues said in a press release.
“6 GHz is viewed as critical spectrum, and almost half of respondents are already deploying or planning OpenRoaming networks.”
Work remains to be done if it is going to scale the heights seen for it by the WBA, however. A report released in late September by TechSee noted that Wi-Fi problems still are “widespread and disruptive.”
