Opensignal, a network intelligence company, has just released a new report talking about FWA (fixed wireless access) technology. In India, FWA became common after Jio and Airtel launched it in 2023 and the expanded it across the country in no-time. Jio has 5G SA (standalone) while Airtel has 5G NSA (non-standalone). However, both the operators have been able to offer 5G FWA services to their customers.
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Bharti Airtel, the second-largest telecom operator in the country, has said that customers should opt for fiber if both AirFiber (FWA) and fiber are available in their area. In fact, Airtel has said that it would eventually upgrade its customers to fiber from FWA once the fiber reaches everywhere.
What’s beneficial about FWA is that it can reach new areas faster. It is hard to deploy fiber for the telcos in every area. However, FWA can reach new areas quickly, allowing users to experience high-speed internet access. Jio and Airtel both offer customers plans with several hundred Mbps speed, which is almost equal in experience to a fiber connection. We are not saying that, Opensignal’s data is.
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FWA is On Par with Fiber in India and USA
Opensignal said that in India and the USA, FWA has become a major growth engine for the operators. In terms of experience, FWA has been said to be just 5 percentage points below the fixed-line. However, this is just for the USA and India. In other countries, the FWA users see a major decline in performance during peak hours. While fiber is the best in almost all scenarios, FWA allows users with no fiber access to also get high-speed internet, which is good for bridging digital divide in societies.
