What to expect from T-Mobile's Fixed Wireless Access in 2023: Slowing growth, rural expansion

T-Mobile's fixed wireless access (FWA) Internet business appears headed into a new phase that will likely involve an expansion into rural areas of the US. "We believe this is the beginning of a slowdown in the pace in existing markets," said analysts at Evercore. However, Evercore analysts noted that T-Mobile is also in the midst of expanding its speedy 2.5 GHz mid-band 5G network to around 35 million new locations – mostly in rural areas – during 2023. That project, they said, will help prop up T-Mobile's fixed wireless growth curve, albeit with a rural focus. However, it will likely also involve an overall slower rate of growth. Additionally, analysts at New Street Research said that T-Mobile's FWA offering has begun to run up against competition from Verizon's own FWA service as well as Charter Communications' new Spectrum One bundle of mobile and home Internet services. Partly as a result, T-Mobile is shifting more of its FWA efforts toward prepaid customers, business users, and subscribers in rural areas – instead of the postpaid customers living in urban areas that it previously courted.