UScellular envisions using BEAD funding to build more towers

Fixed wireless access (FWA) is a bright spot for UScellular’s wireless business. UScellular CEO LT Therivel said that the company’s FWA subscriber base is doubling every 18 months. “I don’t see that rate of growth slowing,” he said, noting that the majority of UScellular’s FWA customers are using the lower speed service that runs on its LTE network. UScellular plans to expand its FWA offering in late 2023 and early 2024 using its mid-band spectrum, which means customers will get download speeds closer to 300 Mbps, and Therivel expects that the higher speed FWA service will be an even bigger draw. Like many broadband providers, the company plans to draw on various government funding programs to help it expand its FWA footprint, including the National Telecommunications and Information Administration's (NTIA) Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program.  But UScellular is in a bit of a unique situation because it owns a portfolio of 4,000 towers (the big three operators sold their towers years ago). Because of this, UScellular wants to use the government’s broadband funding to build more towers so it can serve more FWA customers and increase its 5G mobile coverage too. Therival said that currently UScellular needs to have a certain number of potential customers within a seven-mile radius of a tower to justify the expense of building and operating a tower. However, with government funding, it could lower that threshold and build a new tower where there are fewer customers and still achieve a return on its investment.