UScellular CTO says fIxed wireless access offering is ‘wildly successful’

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. He called the company’s FWA offering “wildly successful” and said that the company does not have any capacity issues. UScellular currently offers the service over its 5G network that operates on low-band 600 MHz spectrum but will incorporate its mid-band spectrum when it deploys that later in 2023. “When we bring on the mid-band spectrum, we will expand our capacity and the breadth of the offering,” he said. UScellular currently uses customer premises equipment (CPE) from Casa Systems and Inseego with its FWA offering and both of those CPEs are installed inside the premises.  However, UScellular is working with vendors to develop a self-installable outdoor antenna unit. Irizarry explained that when the antenna is installed outside, UScellular gets much better coverage and capacity. But outside antenna units can be difficult to install, and some customers don’t like having an antenna unit on their rooftops or outside their homes. However, new technologies are making outdoor units more amenable, as some vendors are experimenting with using artificial intelligence (AI) to orient the internal elements of the antenna, making it easier for consumers to self-install.