How Fixed Wireless Access Is Rewriting The Rules For Broadband
Did the telecom industry overlook one of the biggest opportunities in 5G? Judging from media buzz, you might think so. Early discussions were dominated by futuristic use cases—network slicing, ultra-low latency and millimeter wave—many of which were still years from deployment. Meanwhile, a quieter revolution was brewing. Many operators were making a strategic bet on something far more immediate and practical: fixed wireless access (FWA).
That bet is paying off. FWA has rapidly emerged as one of the most successful use cases for 5G to date. According to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), there are now more than 200 commercial 5G FWA deployments and growing. In North America, T-Mobile and Verizon have already surpassed their 2025 targets for FWA customers, with T-Mobile now expecting 12 million connections by 2028 and Verizon anticipating 8-9 million in the same timeframe. Ericsson predicts that by 2029, there will be 330 million FWA connections worldwide, generating approximately $75 billion in revenue.
How did 5G FWA seemingly come out of nowhere to become this burgeoning industry phenomenon? Let's take a closer look.
Fueling Competition
On one level, it's not surprising that 5G FWA didn't capture early headlines. After all, it's just internet connectivity, right? Haven't we had broadband for decades?
Well, yes and no. If you live in a rural region or developing market—or even if you'd just like more competition on pricing and performance—having a brand-new internet option can be quite compelling. Especially one that delivers performance on par with fiber without the need for last-mile cabling. Suddenly, some of the biggest longstanding broadband challenges—bridging the digital divide, connecting remote locations, spurring investment in developing markets—become far less challenging.
Even operators have been surprised by market enthusiasm for FWA. Whether targeting urban cable subscribers or bringing cost-effective broadband to new regions, they're finding customers hungry for new choices.
Operators are finding FWA to be an effective lever for the following:
In regions where fiber buildouts are cost-prohibitive, FWA enables mobile operators to offer home broadband wherever they have 5G coverage. In many cases, performance has been found to rival traditional wired connections.
Our research found that 2024 monthly revenue per user for 5G FWA averaged approximately $46 in the United States, $35 in Western Europe and $70 in the Middle East. And that's just the starting point. Providers are finding a strong appetite for upsell services—like speed boosts, smart home bundles and integrated home-and-mobile packages.
FWA offers a lower-cost, faster path to market entry. Operators can assess uptake in a region to inform future fiber expansion plans, using FWA as both a service and a market testing tool.
FWA's appeal extends beyond residential customers. At least 20 operators are now actively marketing FWA for business use, particularly targeting small and midsize enterprises in underserved areas. These offerings often come with SLAs and value-added services—like cybersecurity, unified communications and even AI edge hosting—creating a robust connectivity platform tailored for modern business needs.
Assuring Quality
With FWA adoption surging, attention is now turning to retention, differentiation and customer experience. And in broadband, that means one thing: quality.
Speed matters, but it's not enough. End users care about performance for the applications they use every day—streaming, gaming, video calls and more. The FWA environment introduces unique challenges, including:
• Airspace contention between FWA and mobile devices on shared spectrum
• Interference between 5G signals and in-home Wi-Fi
• Traffic imbalances within households, where one heavy user can degrade QoE for others
These challenges can't be solved with a one-time fix. They require a comprehensive, lifecycle approach to testing—starting from design and continuing through deployment and operations. Effective strategies include:
• Emulation And Simulation: Using digital twins to test networks and services in the lab, uncovering performance issues before live deployment.
• Continuous Testing And Automation: Integrating functional and performance testing into CI/CD pipelines, enabling rapid, reliable deployment at scale.
• Active Testing In Live Environments: Injecting synthetic test traffic to monitor SLA adherence and flag issues before they impact real users.
Make no mistake—FWA introduces a new level of complexity compared to traditional broadband. But it also offers enormous opportunity. As adoption accelerates, operators who recognize this complexity and prioritize service quality will be best positioned to lead.
The Most Disruptive Broadband Technology In Years
Fixed wireless access is reshaping the broadband market faster than anyone predicted. It's opening doors for operators to expand footprints, compete more effectively and deliver meaningful value to customers—quickly and cost-efficiently.
We may not have talked about it much during the early hype cycles of 5G, but FWA is rewriting the rules. It's not just a stopgap or rural solution—it's a transformative force in telecom. And its story is just beginning.
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