Summary Bullets:

• Verizon discloses progress in business FWA (LTE/5G business internet) every quarter and has added 133,000 business subscribers in Q3 2023.

• AT&T and T-Mobile tout consumer FWA progress but do not disclose business FWA stats. Can the market be so different for these three service providers?

FWA is considered a growth market for US operators, and on the consumer side, it is already threatening cable operators that are determined to maintain their broadband advantage while potentially dabbling in their own FWA initiatives.

Verizon discloses its progress in business FWA (LTE/5G business internet) every quarter, having added 133,000 commercial subscribers in Q3 2023 for a total of 1.03 million business FWA subs, or 39% of its total of 2.67 million FWA subs, including consumers. Admittedly, its FWA growth has flattened in recent quarters, but Verizon hopes that the addition of C-band spectrum (and mmWave, including point-to-multipoint access for multi-dwelling units) will boost performance and growth. The operator still aims to draw 4-5 million FWA subscribers (for both consumer and business) by 2025. Verizon LTE Business Internet comes in speed tiers of 10/25/50 Mbps whereas Verizon 5G Business Internet is available with 100/200/400 Mbps options. For the highest tier services (and for Fios Business customers), Verizon offers professional installation, while a plug-and-play (self-setup) option is available for LTE and lower-tier Verizon 5G Business Internet. Customers may pay monthly for a Verizon-branded router or bring their own compatible Verizon-certified device.

Verizon launched a set of new business capabilities for the business FWA service in June 2023, featuring an internet portal that allows customers to view and manage their fixed wireless connections, router configurations, and native security features via an easy-to-use cloud-based dashboard as well as a set of security solutions in two low-cost tiers, which offer cybersecurity protection requiring no installation or IT support. The operator has also disclosed customer wins for low-band (LTE business internet), mid-band (5G business internet with self-startup) and high-end (mmWave internet with professional install). These include retailers, professional services companies, a car wash, an interior design firm, and an aviation startup, among others.

While T-Mobile touts progress in both consumer and business FWA, it has not split out the numbers for the business segment to provide proof of traction and growth. Describing benefits of T-Mobile’s FWA-based Business Internet offering, it touts its lead in 5G, range of devices, flexible plans, a productivity filter to optimize business performance, and a dedicated business support team. It offers a $30 a month unlimited plan with one premium voice line. Temporary work sites, PoS systems at retailers, pop-up and satellite locations, and connectivity for hybrid workers are noted as target users. T-Mobile has different plans with different amounts of data for primary internet (100 GB, 300 GB, or Unlimited) vs. failover internet purposes (with plans of 2 GB, 10 GB or 25 GB). These range from $10-70 a month. T-Mobile added approximately 500,000 new FWA connections (consumer and business) during Q3 2023, bringing T-Mobile’s total FWA base to 4.2 million total connections.

AT&T offers consumer broadband using FWA, and launched a new service in 2023, AT&T Internet Air, for the consumer broadband market, now available in 16 markets. The service is also used “surgically” to support small businesses in cases where copper infrastructure and DSL service is being retired and to support rural areas. It also offers a business service, AT&T Wireless Broadband, with three plan types (Core, Pro, and Ultra), ranging from $70-100 per month, but with the caveat that 5G may not be available yet in certain cities. Although it launched FWA in 2021, in February 2023, AT&T noted that it didn’t see FWA as a great long-term solution as the company is focused on deploying fiber at a record pace. Even the newly expanded AT&T Internet Air only garnered 25,000 customers in Q3 2023. For the enterprise, AT&T notes that 5G-powered FWA is becoming a fallback option, including use as an alternative connection method for SD-WAN services or an “interim” high-speed broadband connection for fiber. Fiber remains the primary choice in most situations due to economics, reliability, and capacity, with 5G showing promise as a supporting connection.

Clearly AT&T has a different perspective on the enterprise FWA market than Verizon and T-Mobile, and its fiber build-out focus has limited its interest in offering FWA as a primary broadband connection type to businesses. This may change as the market evolves and new use cases for FWA emerge. While wireless is increasingly acceptable to businesses for backup, GlobalData believes that its use as a primary connection type for larger companies and more diverse use cases is inevitable.