Lumen CTO talks potential FWA, wholesale partnership plays

Some broadband operators view fixed wireless access (FWA) as a looming, competitive threat. Lumen, however, sees an opportunity knocking, according to the company’s new technology chief. Lumen CTO Dave Ward said while Lumen is firmly in the “fiber first” camp, that doesn’t mean it’s opposed to using FWA, particularly in hard-to-reach rural areas. And Lumen isn’t shying away from partnerships with wholesale fiber providers, either—companies that can give Lumen the reach it doesn’t have on its native network. Lumen is in “active discussions” with some wholesale fiber players, Ward said. Essentially, these discussions are to make sure that “we understand how the companies can work together, both from a network architecture point of view as well as a systems architecture point of view.”