How fixed wireless access emerged a killer app in 5G

We at Mobile Experts have been tracking the fixed wireless access (FWA) market for many years. In 2017, we predicted that 5G FWA would be a success. In recent months, that prediction has been validated: Confidence in it as a wired broadband alternative has substantially increased. First, the National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has left the door open for FWA to be eligible for a mass of Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD)-funded projects rolling through the complicated approval process involving various state broadband offices and the NTIA. Another proof point of the growing confidence in FWA is T-Mobile’s newly stated goal of reaching 12 million FWA subscribers by 2028—a 50% increase from its prior goal of 8 million FWA subscribers by 2025. While FWA had historically been viewed as a technology of last resort, today it is considered a wired broadband substitute, and it is effectively competing against the incumbent broadband technology of choice—cable—taking most of the broadband net adds in the U.S. in the past year.

[Kyung Mun is a senior analyst at Mobile Experts LLC, a network of market and technology experts that provides market analysis on the mobile infrastructure and mobile handset markets.]