Dell’Oro Group predicted revenues from Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) will surpass US$40 billion over the next five years partly due to the increase in subscribers in emerging markets.
The analyst company found FWA spending had surged in recent years to support both residential and enterprise connectivity due to ease of deployment and the widespread availability of 4G and sub-6GHz 5G networks. These enhancements have made FWA connectivity more reliable with improved throughput, performing comparably to fixed broadband.
It was noted that long-term subscriber growth is expected to occur in emerging markets particularly in Southeast Asia and Middle East North Africa. FWA growth in these regions is due to upgrades of existing 3G and 4G networks, and a demand to connect subscribers economically.
Another key technology for connectivity in emerging markets will be satellites from LEO-based providers such as Starlink, OneWeb, and Project Kuiper.
Preliminary data from Dell’Oro found total FWA revenues including RAN equipment, residential CPE and enterprise router and gateway revenue is on track to increase by 27%, for 2023. This will be driven predominantly from residential subscriber growth in North America.
Global FWA revenues are predicted to surpass US$9 billion by 2027 due to sustained investment and subscriber growth in both 3GPP- and non-3GPP-based network deployments.
”FWA has proven that it can provide connectivity both in rural and underserved markets while also competing head-to-head with fixed broadband technologies in urban and suburban markets,” said Dell’Oro Group VP and analyst Jeff Heynen.
“Beyond residential connectivity, enterprises are relying more heavily on FWA-enabled routers and gateways to connect branch offices, vehicles, and kiosks as part of their own private wireless initiatives.”
