Indian consumers can look forward to an enhanced 5G experience at home, as Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are set to expand their high-speed wireless broadband services. The two leading telecom operators by market share are planning to broaden their fixed wireless access (FWA) offerings in the coming quarters to aggressively target the home and enterprise broadband segments.
The 5G FWA expansion will help both companies take initial steps toward monetizing their investments. Jio aims to achieve nationwide coverage for its 5G FWA service, JioAirFiber, by mid-2024, as announced during the Q4 earnings call. Bharti Airtel also plans to extend its services beyond the current 25 cities.
FWA, which uses wireless devices functioning like miniature cell towers, is easier to deploy than fiber as it offers similar speeds without the need for extensive infrastructure. In areas where fiber services are not feasible, FWA will be offered. Both Jio and Airtel have yet to respond to inquiries regarding their plans.
Jio, leveraging its advanced 5G standalone (SA) architecture, offers FWA in 5,900 cities and towns. Airtel is also transitioning to standalone mode to roll out its FWA services, as stated by the company during a recent earnings call.
“On the SA deployment, we currently have a pilot in one state and are extending this to another circle. We are conducting numerous trials to evaluate its performance. The mid-band holdings are a critical component of our SA strategy,” said Airtel’s Managing Director Gopal Vittal.
Standalone technology operates independently of underlying layers such as a 4G network. Jio’s launch of 5G using SA has facilitated FWA deployment across more cities due to its extensive coverage. Conversely, Airtel initially relied on non-standalone (NSA) technology, which integrates with 4G and is cost-efficient but less robust. Airtel is now shifting to SA technology.
Slow FWA Rollout by Airtel
Vittal attributed the slow rollout of FWA to the global supply issues of consumer premise equipment (CPE) devices. “The delay in scaling FWA is due to the supply chain issues with CPEs. Some supplies are arriving now, and by Quarter Two, we should see the full-scale impact of FWA. We are preparing to increase the deployment velocity,” he said.
CPEs include telecommunications and IT equipment such as telephone handsets and DSL routers kept at the customer’s location. Jio launched its FWA service in September 2023 and is experiencing strong demand from Tier 2 and 3 towns, according to Kiran Thomas, president of Jio Platforms.
Jio’s AirFiber is marketed as an entertainment-first product, bundled with broadband connectivity for retail consumers. It is also offered to small businesses with various digital solutions such as managed Wi-Fi, cloud computing, and IoT surveillance. Both companies use FWA services to reach customers in areas where deploying optical fiber is difficult and time-consuming, complementing their fiber broadband services.
37 Million FWA Users by 2028
FWA, a prominent 5G use case in India, can offer speeds comparable to fiber technologies and has seen significant global adoption. “While fiber requires substantial upfront investment, FWA investments are less capital-intensive as they can utilize unused capacity on mobile networks, offering better cash flows than fiber broadband,” said Ashwinder Sethi, partner at Analysys Mason, a telecom and technology consulting firm.
Following aggressive fiber rollouts in urban areas, Jio and Airtel are expected to use FWA to bridge the digital divide in suburban and rural regions. Market intelligence firm Mandala Insights predicts FWA connections in India will rise from 308,000 in 2023 to 36.6 million by 2028.
Most of these connections will operate on the sub-6 GHz 5G spectrum frequencies, with mmWave gaining traction from 2025 onwards. “FWA is currently the only proven monetizable use case for 5G. In the US, FWA has grown significantly, not only within the consumer segment but increasingly in enterprises as well. It is currently growing faster than fixed broadband in the US,” said Shiv Putcha, founder and principal analyst at Mandala Insights.
While the launch price of FWA is similar to fiber to the home (FTTH), its adoption and monetization are yet to be fully realized, as these are still early days for 5G FWA in India. 5G offers ultra-high broadband speeds, enabling faster movie downloads and cloud gaming for consumers.
