The domestic 5G-based fixed-wireless access (FWA) market continues to show robust overall demand, with recent growth numbers from T-Mobile US, Verizon, and AT&T indicate that the lucrative enterprise space remains a primary driver of that demand.

The most robust evidence of that drive came from Verizon, which reported that it added 160,000 new enterprise FWA connections during the second quarter. That growth accounted for 42% of Verizon’s total 5G FWA connection growth during the quarter, which was a significant bump from the approximately one-third share the enterprise market had been driving.

“Demand for the service is strengthening as small businesses and enterprises continue to trust the reliability of the product and speed and ease of deployment,” Verizon CFO Tony Skiadas told investors during the carrier’s earnings call.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg had previously pointed to the carrier’s 5G FWA product driving unique enterprise use cases.

“On the business side, we’re seeing new use cases that we didn’t see before, all the way from coffee shops replacing cable with fixed-wireless access to large enterprises actually replacing with fixed-wireless access as well for different use cases,” Vestberg said during the carrier’s Q1 earnings call.

T-Mobile US, AT&T enthused by enterprise 5G FWA Market leader T-Mobile US, which surpassed 5.6 million total 5G-based FWA connections during the quarter, admitted that the consumer space continues to be the biggest driver of that growth, but that it’s expecting more enterprise traction going forward.

“I think a lot of that opportunity might still be in front of us on the business side,” T-Mobile US CEO Mike Sievert told investors during the carrier’s Q2 earnings call.

Callie Field, president of T-Mobile US’ Business Group, added that the carrier was also continuing to see sequential FWA growth from its small and midsized enterprise market segments.

T-Mobile US recently bolstered the enterprise-focused positioning of its 5G FWA service with new devices from Cradlepoint to join those being offered from Cisco.

AT&T’s management expressed similar enterprise enthusiasm for 5G FWA growth. While the carrier remains the smallest and newest entrant in the specific space, CFO Pascal Desroches did note the carrier sees growth opportunities in the business space.

AT&T CEO John Stankey further explained that the carrier is remaining selective in where it launches 5G FWA support, with enterprise customers showing different usage patterns from the consumer market.

“We're doing it … any place the right business customer wants to buy it we’ll sell it, and that means whether we've got capacity or not.” Stankey said. “The business product is a different product. The business product has different usage characteristics. The business product has different [revenue] characteristics, and the business product has different characteristics around how you can bundle and serve multiple products together.”

Stankey added that this enterprise usage characteristic allows for a profitable path toward further expansion of the 5G FWA service.

“You'll continue to see us scale further in the business market,” Stankey said. “We're still getting the distribution tuned and honed in that space, and I would expect you’ll see improvement in our numbers in the business segment as we move forward in the coming quarters.”

One potential sticking point toward unbridled 5G FWA growth remains network integrity. All of the company executives were pressed on the ability of their networks to continue supporting high-usage FWA traffic, which in some cases has been reported to be in excess of 10-times more than what a traditional smartphone will generate per month.

Verizon’s Vestberg noted that the carrier would be revisting its 5G FWA growth projections as it nears its initial support cap of between 4 million and 5 million connections. Sievert echoed that sentiment, with Stankey continuing to stick to AT&T’s plans for 5G FWA growth based on profitability.

ABI Research recently forecast that it expects the global FWA market to growth at a 14% compound annual growth rate through 2029, hitting nearly 265 million connections over that time frame. However, it also noted that network integrity will be a key point to supporting that growth across all market segments.

“As the demand for a more connected world continues to grow, the performance and efficiency of FWA technology remain a key driver in bridging the connectivity divide, providing high-speed, reliable internet access in both the enterprise and consumer markets,” ABI Research Analyst Larbi Belkhit wrote.