Fixed wireless access gets strong signal in India's rural heartland

Jio had about 44% of its subscriber base in rural parts by March

Rural consumers in India are taking to fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband service in a big way, altering the perception that it is a premium service that mostly urban households, especially in big cities and metros, can afford.

 

According to the latest data from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Reliance Jio, the largest player in FWA, at the end of March this year had as much as 44 per cent (2.5 million) of its subscribers in rural areas. It has 5.57 million in all.

 

Jio has 82 per cent of FWA subscribers, with the rest being with Airtel, which launched the service gradually in September 2023.   

 

While FWA subscribers are spread across the country, Andhra Pradesh is at the top, accounting for 8.7 per cent of FWA rural subscribers for Jio, followed by Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh (east) and Tamil Nadu. 

 

Growth in FWA in India till March was faster than what the GSMA Intelligence, the research wing of a global body of telecom players, had estimated. The estimate was 6 million by the end of 2025. Jio and Airtel together crossed 6.79 million in the third month of the year. Airtel, which started after Jio, is concentrating on urban locations.  

 

If the GSMA projections hold good globally, there will be 32.4 million FWA homes all over the world.

 

Based on the first three months’ subscriber base, India has a fifth of the global FWA market. 

 

The only other country ahead of India in FWA is the United States, which has 14.7 million FWA connections. However, based on industry projections, by 2030, India is expected to have 75 million-100 million homes connected by either FWA or fibre to the home. And many expect it to cross the US in the next few years.  

 

But the market will have a third challenger from satellite broadband service, in which companies like Starlink, One Web, and Kuiper from Amazon are in various stages of setting up shop in the country. The large rural affluent population not connected or with poor or unstable terrestrial connectivity could be a market which would also like to try out satcom service.