Sue Marek

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is a bright spot for UScellular, which is struggling to turn around its mobile business. The regional operator now has close to 100,000 FWA subscribers, according to UScellular EVP and CTO Mike Irizarry.

Low-income students in the St. Vrain Valley School District in Longmont (CO) will soon have access to free broadband services thanks to a private LTE network deployed by the City’s municipal fiber provider, NextLight. In 2014 NextLight built a municipal fiber network in Longmont that currently covers 44,000 locations and provides service to around 26,000 customers. NextLight also provides fiber connectivity for the St.

Dish Network says it is progressing with its Boost Infinite postpaid service but company executives stopped short of saying when it will launch commercially nationwide.

US fiber companies are furiously expanding their network footprints to accommodate growing demand from consumers and businesses for high-speed broadband.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will require both cargo and passenger airplanes in the US to install 5G C-band tolerant radio altimeters, or an approved radio frequency (RF) filter, by February 24, 2024.

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is a bright spot for UScellular’s wireless business. UScellular CEO LT Therivel said that the company’s FWA subscriber base is doubling every 18 months.

Executives from fixed wireless provider Starry said that the company is performing well despite the tough macro-economic environment. The reasons it’s immune to the today’s economic climate? It’s better, faster and cheaper, said Starry co-founder and CEO Chet Kanojia, adding that because the company’s fixed wireless access (FWA) service is positioned well is because it is prepaid and therefore has minimal bad debt exposure.

Unlike many of its cable peers, WideOpenWest (WOW!) isn’t seeing a lot of competition from fixed wireless access providers in its markets. The reason, according to WOW! CEO Teresa Elder, may be because fixed wireless providers are more focused on underserved broadband areas rather than markets where WOW! offers service. “We don’t see as much competition as our peers from fixed wireless,” she said, adding that WOW! is already bringing a lot of “competitive intensity” to its markets. WOW!

UScellular CEO LT Therival is reviving the concept of network sharing as a way to reduce costs and make 5G deployments feasible in rural America. Network sharing isn’t a new phenomenon but traditionally US operators have been opposed to any network sharing arrangements, other than sharing space on cell towers. This attitude is quite different from other regions of the world where network sharing is more commonplace. Therival has reiterated his belief that it doesn’t make sense to build four or five duplicative 5G networks in rural America.

When asked where AT&T intends to increase its fixed wireless access (FWA) buildout in response to pressures from competitors T-Mobile and Verizon, McElfresh said that the company continues to see FWA as a stopgap measure that AT&T will use in areas where it doesn’t plan to deploy fiber.