mmWave-backed fixed wireless access is making gains outside of dense urban areas
Fixed wireless access is emerging as a primary driver of new revenues for mobile operators. It’s how Verizon initially went to market with 5G and has since evolved to a significantly larger geographic reach and to include a mix of both high-band and C-Band spectrum. T-Mobile US, similarly, is going after home broadband share using fixed wireless access with an eye on rural markets and areas where traditional cable companies have something of an entrenched monopoly. The logic here is around maximizing use of available network capacity, realizing deployment efficiencies in terms of serving mobile and fixed use cases from the same sites, and as a way to generate new service revenues by taking on cable companies who are themselves trying to take mobile share through MVNO offerings.
More specifically to mmWave, if you were to have looked at the market a few years ago, you would’ve seen that fixed wireless access was only seen as viable in dense, urban areas due to the line-of-sight requirements and propagation challenges associated with the frequencies. That has gradually changed though with improvements at both the system-level and on the device side. Case in point is US Cellular. In May 2021 the company demonstrated a sustained average downlink speed of 1 Gbps and peak speeds around 2 Gbps over a distance of 7 kilometers.
In this instance, the carrier worked with Qualcomm Technologies, Ericsson and Inseego on the field test, which took place in Janesville, Wisconsin, and applied extended-range functionality to Ericsson’s commercial hardware Antenna Integrated Radio (AIR) 5322 advanced antenna system, along with an Inseego Wavemake 5G outdoor CPE FW2010, which uses Qualcomm’s 5G FWA Platform (Gen 1) that includes the Snapdragon X55 5G modem-RF system and a Qualcomm QTM527 mmWave antenna module.
In addition to the 7 km line-of-sight link, US Cellular said that at a distance of 1.75 km with no line of sight, the partners were able to get sustained average downlink speeds of about 730 Mbps and sustained average uplink speeds of about 38 Mbps.
“We believe that every household and business deserves access to reliable internet access no matter where they are located, and the results we achieved in this latest mmWave test further confirm that wireless technology is key to providing high-speed broadband service in both urban and rural areas,” said Mike Irizarry, EVP and CTO of US Cellular. “By collaborating with companies like Ericsson, Qualcomm Technologies and Inseego, we will continue to drive innovation with extended-range technology to ensure that wireless customers across rural America have an exceptional wireless experience designed for their communities.”
In September 2020, US Cellular achieved an extended-range data call — also in the Janesville location — over a more than 5 km distance with speeds exceeding 100 Mbps, working with Ericsson and Qualcomm Technologies. Irizarry called that test “a key strategic milestone in our 5G evolution.”
Fast forward to April 2022 and US Cellular has launched its 5G mmWave high-speed internet service in parts of 10 U.S. cities.The carrier says that its Home Internet+ solution delivers speeds of up to 300 Mbps, which represents an increase of 10-15 times compared to its 4G LTE home internet offering. The fixed wireless access service is available in parts of East Moline and Rock Island, Illinois; Bettendorf, Cedar Falls, Davenport, Dubuque and Waterloo, Iowa; Yakima, Washington; and Beloit and Janesville, Wisconsin. The company said that it expects to increase the new offering within those cities and expand to new cities in urban and rural areas.
“This expansion of delivering high-speed internet to untapped cities is a testament to Qualcomm Technologies efforts to bridge the digital divide,” said Gautam Sheoran, vice president, product management, Qualcomm Technologies. “By equipping operators and OEMs with cost-effective, last-mile technologies, we are able to empower end users and enterprises with best-in-class 5G connectivity for homes and businesses, including those in previously underserved areas.”
If you consider US Cellular’s service area and take a careful look at the quotes above–words like “underserved” and “rural”–you can see that mmWave fixed wireless access, at least by US Cellular’s reckoning has a place outside of dense, urban areas. On a higher-level, this is consistent with federal machinations to close the digital divide, a consummate talking point of politicians and bureaucrats, and something that receives a good deal of directed and subsidized funding. Here’s where the economics kick in; in a white paper, US Cellular suggests that fixed wireless access can be deployed at up to 40% less cost than fiber-based home internet while also enhancing cellular mobility.
From the paper, which also points out that the Federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) sets aside $45 billion to bridge the digital divide through broadband expansion, “Our current 2022 plans include expansion to economically viable areas, but to justify unsubsidized investment, we must be able to reach several hundred homes and businesses per tower (note: our economics require over 150 subscribers at $65 per month to equip an existing tower with the necessary equipment; or approximately 500 subscribers to build a new tower, and we can’t assume that everyone will adopt the service.) This density is rare in unserved and underserved locations, which is a key driver of the current digital divide. The cost of building and maintaining a tower in rural America can be nearly twice as expensive as building a tower in an urban area, and the density of customers in these areas is far less than in suburban and urban areas, thereby putting pressure on the revenue generation needed to drive a positive return on investment.”
So in addition to providing a refreshingly candid breakdown of the economics associated with serving mmWave-based 5G fixed wireless access, the company makes a compelling case for putting some of that $45 billion to work for things other than wired broadband. “Importantly, in contrast to previous, more restrictive funding vehicles the IIJA is technology neutral, meaning both wired and wireless solutions can qualify for funding. This additional flexibility provides policy makers and local communities with a tremendous opportunity for rapid deployment upon distribution of funds. FWA technology can provide connectivity to homes and businesses in rural areas without some of the cost and timing burdens associated with wired solutions.”
