Fixed wireless access a key money-spinner for telcos post 5G: Ericsson exec

In a Q&A, John Yazlle, Head of Fixed Wireless Access, Ericsson, says FWA connections will generate $67 bn in revenues, grow 3x by 2028

Ericsson estimates FWA connections will generate $67 billion in revenues, and grow three times by 2028, up from the 100 million connections globally in 2022, John Yazlle, Head of Fixed Wireless Access, Ericsson tells Subhayan Chakraborty in an interview. Given that 80 per cent of these would be 5G and fixed broadband penetration in India remains very low, the country is staring at massive potential, he says. Edited excerpts:

How do operators grow their average revenue per user with FWA?

We see FWA as a key 5G monetisation opportunity. Last year we estimated that there were about 100 million connections globally. These are expected to grow three times to 300 million connections by 2028 and generate $67 billion in revenue for operators.

In 2028, 80 per cent of these connections would be 5G fixed wireless. As they provide these additional connectivity to homes or to small and medium businesses, operators will generate additional revenue.

What is the situation globally ?

Ericsson's Mobility report published last November, surveyed about 300 operators in over 100 countries. Within these operators, 75-77 percent had FWA offerings. We also saw that number growing a lot, more than double in the past three years. Hence, it is not only 4G fixed wireless access that we see in the market.

In the past year, 40 per cent of the new 5G fixed wireless launches have been in emerging markets. So, we see that as 5G is coming to emerging markets, operators are seeing fixed wireless as a key use case to complement their offers.

Given the range of geographies and economic levels in India, what would the range of FWA devices be like?

There will be different deployment scenarios of 5G. For cities, operators will have more existing sites and could be add some small cells for better indoor connectivity. For sub-urban and rural areas, the most common way will be to deploy 5G on existing towers.

Instead of using indoor devices for home use, an external antenna can be put on the outer wall of the house or the roof, allowing it to serve users at several kilometers range.

Since FWA devices are sold at various price points, will the difference in speed capabilities prove to be a dampener for the average consumer in price sensitive markets such as India?

The mobility report shows that of the 238 fixed wireless access operators globally, 25 per cent are selling speed-based offerings. We think speed-based offerings are very important because they enable better monetisation and with different speeds, you can address different market segments.

In emerging markets, that becomes very important because you're going to have some consumers at the entry level, while others are seeking very high speed offers. To address these different market opportunities, operators will have different solutions powered by different types of network and devices that fit these different market opportunities.

So, there will be high-end, sophisticated customer premises equipment for plans providing 500 megabit per second, while other plans cater to entry level or 30-50 megabits per second solutions. These will have different prices for the consumer but will also have different prices on the device side.

What has the response been for such price differentiated offers in emerging markets?

We have seen speed-based pricing not only in emerging markets but also developed markets. In Norway, you can have price plans of 70-100 megabit or even other prices of about 500 megabits per second. On the other hand, we see all the operators that launch 5G fixed wireless in countries like Mexico or Angola also having this type of speed base.

For fixed broadband connections, there is very low penetration in India. But having fast and reliable broadband is a big necessity.

In which countries is most of the manufacturing currently concentrated?

There is a large ecosystem with many companies producing FWA devices. So, operators have a large choice of devices to choose from and these devices are manufactured in many different countries. In Asia, Taiwan, China and some countries in Southeast Asia lead in manufacturing.

We see these devices being produced in many different locations going forward. We also see countries providing local incentives for local production–an example is Brazil. For countries with large scale, such as India, it makes a lot of sense for some of these companies to produce locally.

Are there established metrics on which we can compare the reliability of fixed wireless vis-a-vis cable transmission?

We see FWA having very good reliability. With 5G, we see that consumers are not only going to get better speeds, they're also going to get better latency. The end user performance is as good as wire line connectivity.

A key advantage for FWA is the speed of deployment. We have seen a very fast deployment of 5G in a very short time in India. Similarly, users can get self-installing FWA devices simply by buying them and plugging them on to the power outlet for the internet at home.