LiFi, or 802.11bb, isn't really meant to replace Wi-Fi, but complement it—a good thing for a technology theoretically nullified by a sheet of printer paper. In an announcement of the standard's certification by IEEE (spotted on PC Gamer) and on LiFiCO's FAQ page, the LED-based wireless standard is pitched as an alternative for certain use cases. LiFi could be useful when radio frequencies are inhibited or banned, when the security of the connection is paramount, or just whenever you want speed-of-light transfer at the cost of line-of-sight alignment.

Frauenhofer HHI, one of the standard's developers, suggests "classrooms, medical, and industrial scenarios." Operating in the optical spectrum, rather than the limited amount of licensed radio wavelengths, "ensures higher reliability and lower latency and jitter," says Dominic Schulz, lead LiFi developer at Frauenhofer. It also reduces jamming and eavesdropping and enables "centimeter-precision indoor navigation."