Connectivity Technology Blog

We have covered Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) as part of different posts in various blogs (see related posts at the bottom) but today we look at how FWA is deployed, thanks to a short tutorial by Mpirical. Before we go to the tutorial, we should also mention why we are discussing this again. This is mainly because FWA take-up is growing in many parts of the world and has gained importance as it's now providing the MNOs with a new source of (5G) revenue. Here's an interesting stat too: The monthly usage per AirFibre (FWA) subscription is 390 GB, 30% *higher* than for a JioFiber subscription. https://t.co/MGamLJE6xm — Tefficient 🚥 (@tefficient) April 22, 2024  Back in April, ABI Research predicted that worldwide FWA subscriptions are on a strong growth trajectory of a 14% CAGR 2023-29 and are set to reach almost 265 million by 2029. 5G FWA is expected to account for 45% of the total subscription base by 2029, reaching 118 million at a CAGR of 35%. Ericsson's Mobility Report ...

It's been nearly four years since we made a tutorial on Fixed Wireless Access ( FWA ). Since then a lot has changed. 5G has rolled out much more rapidly then anticipated, more of the LEO satellites are being launched and more operators are being convinced to roll out mmWave based FWA.  At the Qualcomm 5G Summit 2022, Federico Agnoletto – senior economist, GSMA Intelligence, held a Fixed Wireless Access MasterClass. In that, he explained the key business and technical considerations that impact the cost to deploy and operate Fixed Wireless Access networks and services. The following is from the masterclass summary: As 5G Fixed Wireless Access continues to grow and transform broadband access, this masterclass teaches operators how to maximize the return on investment for these technologies. GSMA Intelligence gives insight into the results of its detailed business analysis of Fixed Wireless Access, including comparisons with alternatives, and addressing ever-growing customer and soci...

5G has enabled many different Service Providers (SPs) to offer Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) as an alternative to a fibre based connectivity. We can always discuss the pros and cons of this approach but not in this post.  In a few cases, the operators have given fancy names to these FWA products. Saudi MNO, Mobily, calls it " 5G Air Fiber " while the Philippines MNO, Globe, calls it " Globe At Home Air Fiber 5G ". Then there is also satellite based "Smart Fibre From Space", as detailed by RTT here . The reason we are talking about Air Fibre in this post is because there is an alternative as proposed by a young US company called Tarana Wireless . There was a feature on them in Bloomberg last week but this Fierce Wireless webinar is a good starting point as well. South African ISP, Supersonic, has started offering this solution since Feb 2021 : Starting from R399 per month, customers can get fast, consistent download speeds of 5Mbps and upload of 2Mbps. This...

We have done multiple posts on our blogs looking at Fixed Wireless Access (FWA). It all started with this tutorial here . 5G FWA was one of the most popular services being offered by the operators.  Late last year, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) announced the establishment of the GSA 4G-5G fixed wireless access (FWA) forum to bring together leading chipset, module and terminal vendors—as well as other telecommunications industry representatives, who wish to promote 4G and 5G FWA technology, products and services—to report on progress of FWA deployments, identify use cases and encourage global adoption.  At the recent GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum, Simon Sherrington, VP Research, GSA, presented the status of Fixed Wireless Access. Some of the highlights from his talk: FWA investment is global At least 477 operators in 175 countries/territories catalogued as investing in FWA based on LTE or 5G Trials, pilots, deployments, commercial launches or investment in licences GSA h...

Fixed Wireless is one of the recurring topics on our blogs (see links to other posts at the end). Now GSMA Intelligence has just released a playbook on this topic. The executive summary says: One of the most interesting potential applications of 5G is in providing access to home broadband, through fixed wireless access (FWA). This hybrid approach combines aspects of traditional mobile and fixed-line delivery methods but is primarily marketed as a ‘home’ internet product. FWA offers the principal advantages of (generally) lower upfront deployment costs relative to fixed options, and capital efficiency gains through the reuse of existing spectrum holdings. The technology has been around for more than a decade through the 3G and 4G eras, particularly in serving rural areas that lack fixed broadband access or have low speeds. At the end of 2020, 492 mobile operators (approximately 50% of the sector) had launched 4G FWA services, with varying levels of ambition. 5G will enable FWA to targe...

While 5G rollout is gaining momentum, 6G is the new shiny object nowadays. Operators may still be struggling with finances and the ability to increase ARPU or revenues through 5G but that has not dampened the vendors and researchers appetite to start talking about 6G. Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), North American Organizational Partner for 3GPP and a leading technology and solutions development organization recently announced Next G Alliance to Advance North American Leadership in 6G. It has several operators and vendors as founding partners. In addition, 6G Symposium was held just last week bringing together vendors, researchers and though leaders in the mobile telecom networks to discuss the next evolution of mobile technology. While there is a lot of activity going on everywhere, 6G Flagship has been taking leadership role with the publication of many different whitepapers and even a magazine now. One of the whitepapers that has been published is about...

I have covered Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) on The 3G4G Blog here and looked at automated HetNet design which included FWA links here . I have also covered Wireline Wireless Convergence (WWC) as part of 5G and Fixed-Mobile Convergence (FMC) posts. The links to the posts are available at the end. Back in December, Juniper took part in a Light Reading webinar which is being shared as part of this post. With revenues flat and traffic continuing to explode, the unsustainable state of network economics needs another disruption. The 5G deployment cycle offers an insertion opportunity for new converged architectures. Wireless offload solutions can re-route the traffic of data-hogging mobile subscribers over wireline cores built for bandwidth and performance rather than mobile cores (EPC) primarily designed for mobility and portability. The 5G Network Architecture in 3GPP Release-16 allows the convergence of fixed and wireless networks. This also allows many new opportunitie...

Getting broadband to your house or place of work is always a nightmare. If you own the place, then it's okay for holes to be drilled in the walls, etc. For a lot of people renting accommodation or premises, they may not have an option to get fiber or wired broadband of their choice. In addition, the ISPs have long term contracts and strict clauses that people end up paying a lot more than they though they will. Almost three months, 11 Openreach engineers (one drilled through the new fibre cable), a broken window, no show appointments and we finally have fibre-to-home broadband! Woo. #disappointment #breathholdingchampions @OpenreachHelp @bt_uk pic.twitter.com/z0Dguoh52e — BAble (@benwablett) August 29, 2019 In such scenarios Fixed Wireless is a fantastic alternative to a wired alternative. While traditional fixed wireless requires an external antenna for reliable connectivity and higher throughput, many new CPEs (Customer Premises Equipments) are being built with hi...