Verizon has certified a Cradlepoint adapter for business customers that want to tap 5G service using C-band spectrum, in what the carrier said marks “a significant milestone” for its 5G fixed wireless access strategy.
Cradlepoint was acquired by Ericsson for $1 billion in 2020, as the vendor beefed up its 5G enterprise play, bringing on a complementary portfolio of wireless wide area network (WAN) and edge gear for enterprise.
Distributed and hybrid workforces are two of the scenarios where Verizon sees the adapters playing a role for wireless WAN.
The newly certified adapter, Cradlepoint W1850, helps deliver speed, capacity and coverage that Verizon is touting for use cases like video and collaborative applications – which have become increasingly utilized as companies saw a shift to work from home or hybrid and distributed environments.
On the fixed wireless front, putting extra capacity to use from its recent C-band deployment is one of Verizon’s stated growth areas. Verizon also has 5G Home fixed wireless service for consumers, but its business group is also working to get a piece of the action.
Since launching C-band earlier this year, the carrier covers 30 million households with FWA on its 5G Ultra Wideband network, including 2 million businesses. It expects to capture 4 million to 5 million FWA subscribers by the end of 2025.
According to a statement by Massimo Peselli, SVP of Global Enterprise at Verizon Business, the carrier’s partnership with Cradlepoint is targeting both small, medium and large-scale enterprises.
“Businesses are looking for partners that can provide fit-for-purpose solutions that unlock the full potential of 5G,” said Peselli in the announcement. “The collaboration we’ve announced today with Cradlepoint unlocks the potential of cellular for businesses and delivers Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband to businesses of all sizes, enabling them to take advantage of C-Band spectrum.”
The strategic partnership is bringing an enterprise-grade product that allows IT organizations to manage the entire wireless WAN lifecycle, Peselli continued.
Verizon is also leveraging Cradlepoint’s expertise with enterprise, noting a long-standing relationship and over 1 million active users between the two partners.
The newly certified 5G wireless WAN product has been specifically designed to support Verizon’s 5G mid-band network, with extensive testing and certification, according to Justin Blair, VP of Carrier Business Development at Cradlepoint, in the announcement.
The W1850 supports Verizon spectrum for LTE, 5G Nationwide (lower band), and 5G Ultrawide Band for C-band only (meaning not mmWave). The LTE and 5G nationwide certfications came last year, with the newest bringing C-band into the mix.
In terms of where the carrier is seeing FWA action so far, Verizon Business Chief Revenue Officer Sampath Sowmyanarayan told Fierce in January that one bucket is new use cases like kiosks and construction sites, places where “it’s almost impossible to get a connection.” The other falls into the primary broadband category, where the verticals are broad but major ones for Verizon include retail, professional services like branch offices for doctors, dentists, or lawyers, and healthcare.
Becoming a nationwide primary broadband provider including via fixed wireless is one of Verizon’s key business targets, but the carrier believes its range of services and multipurpose network brings an advantage over other fixed wireless 5G enterprise players.
During Verizon’s investor day, Verizon Business CEO Tami Erwin said that in terms of ability to compete, she doesn’t have many businesses that are asking only for broadband.
“They want core connectivity, they want security, they want managed networks and they want applications and solutions on top of that,” she said. “And I can effectively do that today with my broadband capability.”
Specifically, she called out the speed at which Verizon can deploy fixed wireless and bring up an SD-WAN or virtualized networks as a competitive advantage.
If deploying broadband today, she’s assuming it’s for SD-WAN and if it's about getting connectivity from a cable player, Erwin said they need to trench a parking lot, taking 6-10 weeks to deploy.
“Today, I can drop an antenna on top of the Walgreens and deploy immediately, bring up an SD-WAN or virtualized network in 24, 48 hours, I can integrate it into the broader network-as-a-service and managed services,” Erwin said. “So I can see their end to end, not just connectivity but platforms and solutions.”
Walgreens is a customer for Verizon’s network-as-a-service offering, in a deal inked at the end of 2020 covering more than 9,000 retail locations across the country – including 5G FWA at some locations.
Article updated with information about spectrum support for the Cradlepoint adapter.