Largest US Wireless ISP Offers Its Take on Suburban Fixed 5G

An interview with Rise Broadband co-founder Jeff Kholer. Rise Broadband is the largest US wireless Internet service provider (ISP). 

As the industry continues to speculate on how widely fixed 5G will be deployed, we thought it would be interesting to find out what the nation’s largest wireless Internet service provider (ISP) thinks about the technology and the business case for suburban fixed 5G. Fixed 5G and “5G-like” equipment is already available from “a couple of vendors,” explained Kohler. As Kohler sees it, fixed 5G “is primarily for increasing capacity in densely populated areas. For our company and for a lot of the wireless ISP industry, it’s not something that so much applies to what we do because we’re primarily rural service providers. The problem we’re solving for in rural America is more coverage than capacity.” Nevertheless, Kohler sees a potential market for fixed 5G — and it would involve certain wireless ISPs (WISPs) “edging in” toward the more densely populated suburban portion of metro markets. “We’re seeing an increasing number of companies edging in to take advantage of the technology” said Kohler regarding fixed 5 wireless. “It’s the very early stage. The equipment is still a little expensive but shows a lot of promise.”