Giving a nod to the increasing importance that cellular Fixed Wireless Access is playing in operator strategies, the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA) has formed a new 4G/5G FWA advocacy group.
The GSA previously had a working group with founding members Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Samsung and ZTE that focused on coordinating industry FWA initiatives. The new 4G-5G FWA Forum will build on that work, focusing on bringing together
A new analyst report estimates that the 5G FWA market will see a stunning compound annual growth rate of more than 135% through 2026, growing from a value of around $503 million this year to $86,669 billion by the end of the forecast period. MarketsandMarkets says that the growth will be driven by the increased capacity and greater speeds enabled by millimeter-wave spectrum. That report concludes that residential use will drive the bulk of the FWA market, and that the Asia-Pacific region will see the highest growth in the use of the technology.
“In a relatively short space of time, fixed wireless broadband access has become a mainstream service,” said Joe Barrett, GSA president. “Today we see hundreds of operators selling LTE-based fixed wireless access services around the world, and dozens more already live with 5G FWA services for home or business broadband. In addition, fixed wireless access device vendors have grown to over 100 globally and against this backdrop of real and significant market demand, the onus is on the FWA community to work together to drive business success.”
T-Mobile US is already expanding its LTE-based FWA service with plans to incorporate 5G, and Verizon’s first 5G service to launch was its 5G Home FWA solution, which it expanded in October.
The GSA has two other specific advocacy groups, one focused on spectrum and another for private networks.
