The 5G FWA opportunity: a TCO model for a 5G FWA network using mid-band plus mmWave

5G fixed wireless access (FWA) is now a commercial reality in developed and developing countries around the world. While FWA solutions have been around for more than two decades, the massive performance improvements enabled by 5G and the use of mmWave spectrum (enabling speeds that are over 10 times that of 4G) make 5G FWA a competitive solution compared to the predominant technologies in the fixed broadband market.

This is the third in a series of research reports examining the conditions under which 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) can be a cost-effective means to deliver broadband services (with download speeds of at least 100 Mbps), compared to alternative wireline technologies and according to different deployment strategies. In this report, we focus on a mobile operator that has an existing 5G network for mobile services and holds 100 MHz of mid-band spectrum available for 5G services in the 3.5 GHz band and 400 MHz of mmWave spectrum in the 26–28 GHz bands.