With the pending launch of the first commercial 5G networks, the fixed wireless access (FWA) market has heated up significantly. The expectation is that the first 5G commercial networks will be fixed wireless networks using the mmWave spectrum bands. In fact, fixed wireless access networks have been in use for some time in the U.S. Many Wireless ISPs (WISPs) provide Internet broadband access service to residential and business customers across the U.S. In addition, FWA solutions are used by enterprises, corporations and governments to provide primary and backup broadband connectivity, and by mobile operators to provide backhaul for mobile cell sites.
“Interestingly enough, this is the second time we've seen that iteration. The first time was with the Industrial Internet of Things, or the Internet of Things. We were bringing broadband to an industrial application before there was the whole concept of the Internet of Things, or the Industrial Internet of Things. 5G is very similar in that the use cases and the vertical markets that we engage in are not changing because of 5G. What is changing is the technology to do that and the capabilities that we are bringing to bear. By example, the ability to use licensed assisted access (LAA) and expand the applications within the service provider model, the ability to use 28 GHz for point-to-multi point or 60 GHz for point-to-multi point“, Scott Imhoff, senior VP of product management for Cambium Networks, told us.
Scott sees one of the major opportunities for fixed wireless access network as the ability to provide people with basic broadband access. "I would say even today one of our mantras at Cambium Networks is ‘connect the unconnected’. And if you look around the world, there are still billions of people that have no connectivity at all or insufficient connectivity. So I would argue that first and foremost there are lots of opportunity for all technologies to bring access to the Internet in one form or another to those billions of people,” he said.