Fixed Wireless is Growing, But Fiber Is Still King, FBA Tells FCC

Fixed wireless access isn’t beating fiber, the Fiber Broadband Association told the FCC in a new filing, responding to a recent CTIA report (see 2409230020). Meanwhile, during a webinar iconectiv released Thursday, speakers said all signs indicate the FWA market is taking off, with continued growth likely.

Fiber adds “have increased steadily over the past five years,” with an estimated 3 million adds in 2024, FBA said in a filing posted Thursday in docket 24-119. “Cable ‘adds,’ which increased significantly over the past two decades, have stagnated, and DSL continues to hemorrhage subscribers, losing millions annually,” the group said.

While CTIA notes that about 20% of FWA subscribers are new, “fixed wireless is largely taking share from DSL and to some extent from cable’s growth,” FBA said: When fiber is available it “captures the largest share of new customers and customers that churn from other providers. Where fiber is not yet available, fixed wireless has been capturing the largest share of customers that churn, and cable captures the largest share of new customers.” Fiber remains “the most robust, reliable, and scalable technology in the fixed market, and the Commission should seek to facilitate its deployment.”

“The use case" for FWA, said Ron Westfall, Futurum Group research director, during the webcast, "has increased substantially ... and I think we have some pretty good data points on that.” T-Mobile has more than 5 million FWA customers, and Verizon more than 3.5 million, he said. AT&T is “basically unfolding” an FWA offering. FWA customers find they can get it for less than wired alternatives, often less than $75/month, he said.

FWA “is essential for flexibly expanding coverage capabilities and options,” Westfall said. Businesses are opting for FWA, including the retail industry, using the technology to connect cash registers and for security, to use on construction sites or even food trucks, he added.

Richard Bernhardt, vice president-spectrum & industry at the WISP Association, said wireless ISPs have been offering fixed-wireless for more than 20 years, with more than 10 million customers using FWA. “You have the ability to deploy in just about every circumstance” and “you have new technologies that are allowing for greater density and distance.” FWA also works in different spectrum bands, he said.

The business case for FWA, said Steve Tang, iconectiv CTO, has “absolutely improved” and will continue to do so. FWA lets providers leverage the mid-band spectrum they have bought and maximize the amount they can receive from the federal government through the broadband equity, access and deployment program (BEAD), the rural digital opportunity fund and other programs, Tang said.

FWA has a “great foundation,” Tang added. “The technology is advancing, the investment and funding is there.” FWA offers low connection costs compared to wireline connections, he said. Probably the biggest benefit is improved coverage, he said: “At the end of the day, that’s really the only way to bridge the digital divide.”

Muslim Elkotob, Vodafone principal solutions architect, noted FWA is sometimes the only option for consumers, where fiber or cable is too expensive and difficult to install.