Faster Verizon Fixed Wireless Speed May Soon Come Thanks to C-Band

Verizon currently cites a speed of 300 Mbps for its 5G fixed wireless offering. That speed could increase beginning as early as 2023 when the company gains access to additional spectrum that it won in the 2021 C-band auction, said Matt Ellis, Verizon executive vice president and chief financial officer. The company was the biggest winner in 2021’s C-band auction. Some of the spectrum that the company won was subject to early clearing, enabling the company to launch mobile and fixed wireless service in the band early 2022. According to Ellis, the C-band spectrum currently available to the company averages 60 MHz per market but will increase to 160 MHz when the company gains access to the additional spectrum in 2023. He also noted that the company has the option to deploy more fixed wireless in the millimeter wave band, which could further boost speeds. The expectation, he said, is that fixed wireless “will be part of our relationship with customers for many years to come.”