Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) 5G is defining the U.S. broadband market, empowering U.S. mobile network operators (MNOs) to rapidly expand their footprints and effectively absorbing all broadband subscriber growth in the market since mid-2022, according to a recent report from OpenSignal.
For instance, AT&T reported in an April 2024 earnings call that it added more fixed wireless broadband subscribers than expected in the first quarter of 2024. AT&T competitor Verizon crossed the 2 million subscriber mark for its residential FWA service in the same quarter.
Still, MNOs like AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile continue to navigate a complex network landscape, particularly when integrating FWA, as they grapple with how to continue meeting customer expectations despite the increased complexity FWA presents.
Challenges of 5G FWA implementation
Though the benefits are evident, FWA implementation comes with an array of challenges that must be addressed in order to do so effectively. These challenges include, but are not limited to, the following:
Security
This increased complexity brings about a wide range of obstacles and considerations. One of the most important of these is security. More complexity within the network means more risk and opportunities for breaches and downtime, which has a far-reaching impact on network users. Monitoring a network fully and effectively requires comprehensive, end-to-end visibility that delivers diagnostic intelligence on network performance and ensures security.
Managing network quality
While the desire to increase revenue and remain competitive in an intensified landscape drives mobile network operators, they must ensure that the quality of their networks remains high. The technological, always-on, and always-connected way in which society operates requires fast speeds and reliable connectivity — anytime, anywhere, particularly for a home office or business setting. That said, while launching 5G FWA to better utilize network capacity is a wise business decision, mobile network operators must pay close attention to the number of connected devices that will be set up underneath routers/gateways. Unlike smartphones or tablets that might have previously been solely connected to MNOs networks, home, and SMB connections through FWA represent many more devices drawing bandwidth at a time. That said, it’s imperative that operators ensure they can support this volume and provide high-quality service.
Furthermore, operators must maintain this service by frequently monitoring network quality and capacity as subscriber numbers grow in the long term. This requires complete, borderless visibility that encompasses the entire network – a challenge without the right solution or processes in place to do so.
The need for visibility in complex networks
To ensure the successful operation and security of complex networks, operators require a level of visibility that delivers actual, actionable intelligence. In a perfect world, this ensures the network’s performance while providing analytics essential for monetizing and securing it. Various network components must interoperate and remain secure to enable monetization. This visibility is imperative for engineers to see where the network is under pressure and when to deploy additional resources as needed. In the event the network breaks down or it is observed that an area is regularly overburdened and requires additional capacity and/or reconfiguration, this visibility becomes invaluable.
Mobile network operators risk customer churn without effective monitoring of all connections and services and the ability to facilitate comprehensive analytics and robust security of multi-domain, multi-generation, and multi-technology networks. Turning visibility into actionable intelligence is crucial for enabling operations, network planning, business analysts, and security teams to manage the network effectively and deliver excellent service for the business.
The future of 5G FWA
Reaching more subscribers and customers is essential for the growth of mobile network operators as they compete in today’s highly stratified marketplace. Deployment of 5G FWA technology offers an important addition to operators’ set of tools for expanding broadband access — and the industry is reacting.
5G FWA deployment is a game-changer for mobile network operators — but challenges must be addressed, and architectural elements must be acknowledged to do so successfully. It is only with comprehensive, end-to-end visibility that 5G FWA will be able to reach its fullest potential, yielding maximum results and changing the industry trajectory.
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