Since Steve Jobs commercialised Wi-Fi in 1999, Wi-Fi has become the wireless success story of the century. Low cost, effective, everywhere: Wi-Fi is the enabler of the Internet economy. We've only just started exploring its potential.

Right now, the future of Wi-Fi is being hashed out: The 6 GHz band is the opportunity that could (finally!) connect another billion users to the Internet and spark (at least) a decade of accelerated socio-economic progress.

This summer, the FCC began the process of making 6 GHz available for unlicensed use. Last week, Apple, Google, Facebook, and a long list of tech leaders filed a joint report to push the FCC towards allowing Wi-Fi to operate in the 6 GHz band.

For a moment, try to imagine what the consequences of unlicensed 6 GHz might be. It's actually hard to picture, because - depending on what the FCC eventually decides - 6 GHz could close to double the available Wi-Fi spectrum of today. Here's my list:

• Connect another billion users to the Internet cheaply & effectively
   
• Make continuous coverage City Wi-Fi a reality across the globe
   
• Turn every indoor location across the world into a high-density hotspot
   
• Connect billions of 'things' and spark a revolution in IoT
   
• Exponentially fuel wireless innovation & new use cases

6 GHz Wi-Fi would be a wireless windfall for the ages. It could be the most important regulatory decision in a generation, and it's by a long shot more important than anything '5G' will be able to do in the short term. We all need to get behind it now.