436 MNOs Offer FWA using LTE, 5G: GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum

GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum said on Tuesday that with an increased adoption globally, 3GPP-based FWA has now become a mainstream service for telcos. The forum reported that over 436 mobile network operators in 171 countries and now offer FWA using LTE or 5G.

FWA The Mainstream Service for Telcos - GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum

The GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum said that out of these 436 operators, 425 sell FWA on LTE. Further, it said that 63 of these MNOs sold 5G FWA to individuals and enterprises. The forum said that the 5G FWA numbers rose from 44 MNOs six months ago.

Julien Grivolas, Chairman of GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum, said, "connecting the unconnected was already a fundamental priority in a normal world, but, as we are seeing with the terrible pandemic situation that we are still facing, our mission to accelerate people’s access to broadband connectivity through 4G-5G FWA is only becoming more critical. This is true for developing as well as developed economies".

The forum said that there are 645 indoor/outdoor LTE CPE devices which can support residential broadband. These devices can also support broadband from small and medium businesses. It also added that a further 144 indoor and outdoor 5G FWA CPE models have been announced while 61 new device models have been launched so far in 2021.

GSA 4G-5G FWA Forum founding partners and members include telecom vendors like Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia. It also includes chipmakers like Mediatek and Qualcomm, and other companies.