Reliance Jio, India's largest telecom operator, has rolled out 5G FWA (fixed-wireless access) services in close to 7000 cities and towns in India. The telecom operator has branded the service AirFiber for its customers to easily understand what it is. Jio launched 5G FWA services in September 2023 for customers in eight cities to start with. Jio is deploying its 5G FWA service over a standalone architecture, and that enables Jio to create an efficient network slice to separate the FWA and mobile network service customers.
According to an Opensignal report, regardless of high or low FWA penetration areas, Jio customers get consistent experience in both mobile and FWA services.
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Opensignal, in its report said, "Throughout the day, both FWA and mobile Consistent Quality scores are closely aligned. In the evening, the difference between FWA and mobile scores narrows, coinciding with a higher proportion of FWA readings."
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AirFiber users consume around 400GB of data per month, and Jio will benefit from creating a separate slice for FWA customers in the long run. The telco has a target to reach 100 million connected premises with AirFiber service, and a slice will ensure that the load of the data consumption doesn't go on the mobile network users.
Jio even offers customers OTT (over-the-top) entertainment loaded AirFiber plans as it is can handle the additional load from video streaming efficiently.
Bharti Airtel has also confirmed that it will be launching its AirFiber services on 5G SA (standalone architecture) networks whilst offering 5G NSA (non-standalone architecture) to mobile consumers.
"In India, Jio is seeing no discernible impact from FWA on the mobile experience of its users, while in Saudi Arabia Zain is seeing the additional load on its network from FWA having a greater influence on mobile users’ experience, depending on the time of day or the level of FWA penetration," said Opensignal.
The network analytics firm also said that 5G FWA is the "secret sauce" for 5G monetisation for telcos globally. FWA benefits from lower prices compared to wireline competition, access to existing mobile retail channels and subscribers, and the ability to deliver a “good enough” broadband service, said Opensignal.
