Airtel CEO Explains Why 5G SA Makes More Sense for FWA

Bharti Airtel has said that it is upgrading its mobile networks to 5G SA (standalone) to offer FWA (fixed-wireless access) services. Airtel’s FWA or AirFiber services are now present in 1300+ cities. The company won’t have to incur any significant incremental capex to run SA as Airtel’s radio and core network is already SA-ready.

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Gopal Vittal, CEO of Bharti Airtel, said, “It is really some software that will need to be put in there and yes when we launch fixed wireless access on standalone by August or September we will be national with it.”

So Airtel Xstream AirFiber customers will soon start experiencing 5G SA services in a month or two. While we have already heard why Airtel went for 5G NSA from the company’s CEO, it is time that we understand why 5G SA is only being reserved for FWA.

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Why Airtel Wants 5G SA for FWA

For the unaware, with 5G NSA, the mobile device latches to 4G for uplink and 5G for downlink. This gives Airtel a coverage advantage as the company has a strong portfolio of sub-GHz bands. While this works perfectly in the scenarios of mobiles, it won’t justify the FWA use case. Uplink becomes a limiting factor for customer experience if on the NSA mode for FWA, Gopal said.

Gopal was speaking on the investors’ call on August 6, 2024, for results of Q1 FY25.