Fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) bested Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) in Australia, according to a recent study by Opensignal. But in Italy, the research firm found 5G FWA and FTTH provide statistically equivalent levels of service quality.
“Our users in Australia have, on average, a far superior broadband experience when using Fiber compared to FWA,” an Opensignal report said. “Fiber users see 82 percent of tests passing our quality thresholds, while only 68 percent do so on FWA. Additionally, Fiber users generally enjoy a “Very Good” experience with on-demand video streaming services, surpassing those on FWA, who on average have a “Good” experience.”
However, in Italy, Opensignal saw users on 5G FWA achieve “statistically equivalent” consistent quality with FTTH in the range of 79.9-80.3 percent and a “measurably faster experience” than fiber-to-the-cabinet/digital subscriber line connections.
“There is a strong market dynamic toward 5G FWA emerging as an alternative to traditional broadband technologies in Italy,” Opensignal report said. “It is particularly effective at reaching “white areas” or regions with low population density that have been traditionally underserved by existing broadband infrastructure.”
Opensignal’s analysis looked at the user experience during different hours of the day. This revealed “greater susceptibility” of FWA to congestion and variations in user experience during busy hours in Australia. In Italy, however, 5G FWA maintained its service quality throughout the day, even during peak evening hours.
“This suggests that the current infrastructure [in Italy] is built to accommodate substantially more users before degradation in experience is observed,” the Opensignal report said.
In Australia, the FWA experience lagged rural areas from 12 percent to 25 percent when compared between fiber and FWA. “While the user experience on fiber connections is statistically unchanged between rural and urban areas of Australia, users on FWA connections have a substantially worse experience in rural areas,” OpenSignal reported.
In Italy, 5G FWA now offers a “completely different” level of experience compared to the LTE-based service, according to Opensignal. “While 5G FWA still could not compete with fiber-to-the-home in terms of speed in Italy, it offered a level of Consistent Quality on par with fiber connections,” OpenSignal reported.
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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