In the past few years, 4G and 5G wireless broadband access – or Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) – has enjoyed sustained double-digit growth in subscriber numbers, thanks to advantages like plug-and-play, zero-wait, and multi-site. It’s the fastest-growing home broadband technology, and 5G’s commercial rollout has only accelerated this momentum. So, how will FWA change home broadband services in the 5G era?
New capabilities: Gigabit home and 10-gigabit enterprise
5G's most significant change is the dramatic increase in speed. Ookla’s Speedtest showed average 5G downlink data rates of around 340 Mbps to 6200 Mbps in five countries, including Saudi Arabia, Finland, and South Africa where FWA is the main conduit for 5G. That rate is three to eight times faster than the average wired broadband speed across all countries over the same period.
New models: Increasing speeds without increasing prices
Subscribers invariably want faster and more reliable broadband connectivity, but shy away from paying extra for it. While China is one of the world's most successful countries in terms of broadband upgrades with FTTH/O penetration increasing from 21 percent in 2013 to 90 percent in 2018, ARPU from Chinese operators' broadband services has barely moved over the same time period.
New services: All-round players
Apart from tariff models, 5G FWA has shown a similar development trend as fixed networks, and will remain aligned with fixed networks in terms of service deployment. More exciting is that 5G will fully enable large-scale commercialization of FWA services, whereas commercial FWA services were never realized in the 4G era.
For example, FWA leased line services, which require high reliability, have already been commercially rolled out in Kuwait. New solutions like EN-DC and Super Uplink enhance the upstream guarantee capabilities of 5G leased lines, while an innovative dual CPE + AR router solution enables 99.99 percent or higher reliability.
New industries: New home & industry scenarios
In the 3G and 4G eras, innovators and how they innovated were restricted to the consumer market. However, only a year after 5G commercialization, we’re pleased to see that FWA innovation has emerged in a range of areas including ToC (To Consumer), ToH (To Home) and ToB (To Business).
The once-quiet customer premises equipment (CPE) sub-industry has also slowly livened up, with almost all mainstream smartphone manufacturers having launched 5G CPE products. Aside from the broadband market itself, major manufacturers view CPE as a key gateway to the smart home market in the future. Today the 5G CPE market consists of outdoor models boasting lightweight window-mounted DIY, indoor models with plug-and-play advantages, and OTT 2-in-1 models with built-in multimedia capabilities.
Home FWA popularity will surge
In 2001, when the first mobile phone with a camera function was unveiled, many people thought it was a gimmick. After all, its 0.11-megapixel image quality paled in comparison to the photographic capabilities of the high-end 5.4-megapixel cameras of the time. Today, however, more than 90 percent of the world's photos are taken using mobile phones, thanks to their portability, ease of use, and continuous improvements in image quality.
Essence : The 5G FWA+TV service will enable TV services, which wasn’t possible in the 4G era. In places like the UK and China, operators are streaming important sporting events and galas live in HD using 5G. 5G will surely change the way of residential and commercial life in future !
