- A lot of small fixed wireless access providers are interested in also deploying fiber broadband
- One WISP doing both fixed wireless and fiber is Cajun Broadband in Louisiana
- Cajun's president said starting with FWA and moving to fiber is a good strategy because “it’s easier to convert a customer than to get them.”
FIBER CONNECT, NASHVILLE – WISPS are making moves to either invest in their own fiber network or share an open access network because they see fiber as an opportunity to grow. This topic is certain to be on everyone's mind at Fiber Connect this week.
In the run up to the show, Mike Wendy, communications director with the trade group Wireless Internet Service Providers Association (WISPA) told Fierce the group was seeing quite a few of its FWA members get into the fiber business.
Wendy said that anecdotally he’d estimate about 30% of WISPA members are doing fiber-to-the-home (FTTH).
“This is only growing, however,” he said. “Aside from supply chain constraints, the various technical inputs and know-how/management is not a big leap from what they are doing now. Reasonable ROI becomes a primary decider in whether to take on such projects. To a large extent, this is informed by population densities and likely uptake.”
Keith Russell, Fixed Networks marketing director at Nokia, said he was surprised to discover, a couple of years ago, that a lot of WISPS were interested in either investing in their own fiber network or sharing an open access network. “They want to grow,” said Russell. “There’s opportunity even in that WISP community to deploy fiber. With more open access networks you’ll see those opportunities grow.”
One WISP that is doing both fiber and FWA is Cajun Broadband in Louisiana, a small provider with about 2,000 subscribers. Jimmy Lewis, president of Cajun Broadband, told Fierce, “We started as a WISP. Now we’re overbuilding ourselves in a lot of areas.”
Two years ago, Cajun received about $22 million in Reconnect Funds via the Louisiana GUMBO program to build FTTH in places where it wants to upgrade from FWA. And the company also bid and won to build fiber in some areas that had no broadband service at all.
“Government funds have kind of propelled the possibilities to build fiber in areas where a couple of years ago you would have not even thought you could go,” said Benny Fallica, FWA business development manager with Nokia.
Lewis said most of the locations where Cajun is building fiber are “pretty rural.” He said that starting with FWA and moving to fiber is a good strategy because “it’s easier to convert a customer than to get them.”
In fact, AT&T’s CEO John Stankey has indicated the company is using this strategy, as well, to gain or retain customers in areas where it wants to eventually deploy fiber or in areas where it’s retiring copper DSL services with plans to replace with fiber.
Asked if a lot of WISPS are following Cajun Broadband’s strategy, Lewis said, “I only see some. Some people don’t have the resources.” But he said many WISPS are worried about getting overbuilt by big service providers that might win Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) projects in their territories.
He also said a service provider can use both FWA and fiber to complement each other in very rural locations. Fiber can be deployed as deep as possible and then FWA, via technology such as Tarana’s, can reach the last mile with high speeds.
“The goal is to get high speed internet to everyone,” Lewis concluded.