While AT&T said it’s happy to stick with fiber-to-the-home, both T-Mobile and Verizon powered forward with record fixed wireless access growth in the third quarter. Industry analysts say this is just the beginning and there is a lot of growth to come in the FWA space.
T-Mobile’s fixed wireless access net additions of 578,000 hit another record high in the third quarter, more than AT&T, Verizon, Comcast and Charter combined for the second quarter in a row. The carrier noted that growth in adds came from outside its current customer base.
“Our high-speed [fixed wireless] internet attracted consumers and businesses who are new to T-Mobile at an increasing pace, establishing new relationships that we can grow with additional products and services over time,” said Mike Sievert, T-Mobile US, Inc. President, CEO & Director. T-Mobile’s business internet, which is a 5G nationwide fixed wireless solution, has seen double-digit growth quarter-over-quarter for four quarters in a row.
T-Mobile is rapidly transferring FWA users over to a 5G standalone network, according to Neville Ray, T-Mobile Chief Technology Officer, which is increasing the efficiency of the network use.
Verizon saw its best-ever 342,000 net adds in fixed wireless in the third quarter, up from 256,000 in 2Q. Along with FiOS, the carrier saw sequential growth of over 40 percent in broadband users. More than 75 percent of the consumer net adds came from urban and suburban locations with data usage that mirrored FiOS customers, the carrier said during its third quarter earnings call last week.
“We see a continued very good momentum in both fixed wireless access and mobility,” said Hans Vestberg, Verizon Communications Inc. Chairman & CEO.
Verizon’s strategy involves building one network and offering differentiated services from it. So when the carrier deployed its C-band spectrum, it experienced a direct correlation to customer growth on both mobility and fixed wireless access. “We are currently covering over 160 million POPs with C-band and on track to deliver 200 million within the first quarter of 2023,” Vestberg said. “When we deploy our network on the C-band, we start in urban and suburban areas. And that’s, of course, also where the fixed wireless access opportunity rises.”
By J. Sharpe Smith, Inside Towers Technology Editor
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