NETWORK PLANNING FOR FIXED WIRELESS ACCESS
The Fixed Wireless Access opportunity Every CSP is different, but there are two primary groups where offering FWA services will likely make sense: • Mobile network operators can leverage their existing network infrastructure to serve new FWA customers, realizing an additional revenue stream for very little additional network expenditure. • Broadband providers can supplement their existing fixed line offerings with FWA and leverage their brand to capture new subscribers. This scenario will require the CSP to deploy a wireless network to be able to offer FWA. With significantly more spending required, assessing the business case becomes critical.
Where does Fixed Wireless Access make sense? With a wireless network up and running, adding FWA subscribers is relatively quick and simple. There is no trenching of cables and other disruptive construction required. So why does FWA not make sense everywhere? In the not-too-distant future, wireless technologies such as 6G will be able to address all broadband use cases. For now, FWA cannot quite deliver the performance and capacity at scale that cable and fiber can. Therefore, at present FWA is best suited to areas where cable and fiber are not feasible options or are expensive to deploy. Rural, semi-rural and suburban areas are often well-suited. For CSPs who wish to add FWA subscribers to their existing mobile network, it makes sense to offer FWA even in areas where other broadband options are available. In this scenario, it is important to be careful when signing up FWA subscribers so as to not overwhelm the mobile network and impact existing subscribers.
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