How FWA is maturing to permanently connect the unconnected
Fixed wireless access (FWA) is bridging the digital divide by connecting millions of previously unconnected people each month. Territories where access to connectivity has been previously challenging, such as rural communities, can now be profitably served with connectivity through this technology.
FWA has matured to become more than a temporary gap-filling technology that provides people with connectivity while they wait for fiber roll-out. It has instead become a permanent solution, delivering full 5G performance to some users for the long term, or introducing internet connectivity to many others for the very first time.
The essential attribute of fixed wireless access is that enables connectivity to get to market without the barriers of costly and slow infrastructure deployment that fiber faces. It brings internet connectivity with fiber-like performance to the vast, unconnected population of the planet and, thanks to continuous innovation in CPE and components, it is able to do this at competitive cost.
The arrival of 5G has made FWA even more attractive because of the low latency and high throughput it delivers – and 5G-Advanced will only further this appeal. It has already gained significant momentum as a flagship 5G use case, and markets across the globe are adopting the technology: GSMA Intelligence predicts growth of 55% for 5G FWA in 2024, with 5G accounting for 61% of FWA connections in Q4 2024.
Network infrastructure and CPE costs, however, remain an issue for many 5G business models in this space, so LTE continues to be rolled out to address the needs of users in many markets that cannot sustain a 5G business case. This white paper explains the current state of this market, the opportunities it presents, and how it compares against rival technologies such as satellite. The paper concludes with an explanation of which hardware is best to support relevant applications.