Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) is a technology which has existed in the 4G era too. But 4G FWA didn't make much noise because of its limited potential and capabilities. With 5G, the way we look at FWA changes completely. 5G FWA can provide fiber broadband-like speeds and enable several use cases that 4G FWA couldn't. While Indian telecom operators have rolled out 5G in many parts of the country and are working to reach deeper corners, they haven't yet started charging mobile customers for 5G. This is because for a mobile customer, a good 4G network is as sufficient as a 5G network. It doesn't matter the kind of speeds you can get with 5G if all of your use cases are being fulfilled by 4G.
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Thus, telcos are offering 5G as an add-on for the time being. instead of charging separately for it. However, one way that telcos have managed to monetise 5G is FWA. Jio has been super aggressive with 5G FWA rollout. Reliance Jio's 5G FWA is now present in close to 7000 towns and cities. Bharti Airtel is slowly expanding compared to Jio, as Airtel also wants to rollout FWA on top of a SA network and not the 5G NSA that it has rolled out throughout the nation.
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Telecom operators in the USA have certainly banked on 5G FWA and seen great adoption by their mobile customers. With minimal incremental network investment, 5G FWA has allowed the US telecom operators to rapidly expand their broadband footprints. T-Mobile and Verizon have added millions of 5G FWA customers since 2021, and at the same time, seen a continous improvement in their mobile network speeds. This is to say that the load on mobile networks can be managed and improved while rolling out 5G FWA.
Especially for telcos that are offering 5G FWA through a separate network slice. Opensignal has termed FWA as the secret sauce for telcos to monetise 5G. At this point, the statement seems to be true.
