Verizon and T-Mobile US have maintained consistent fixed-wireless access (FWA) performance over the past year despite each carrier posting robust growth of their FWA service connection base, highlighting moves by both operators to inject more spectrum into their networks to deal with growing demand.

Network speed test monitoring firm Ookla reported that both operators provided average FWA service download speeds of around 122 Mb/s during the third quarter of this year. That speed was nearly consistent over the past four quarters of testing on T-Mobile US’ network, with Verizon’s FWA network speeds improving slightly over the past year.

Both operators managed to maintain – or improve – network performance consistency while still growing overall network demand. T-Mobile US added around 1.6 million new connections over that 12-month testing time frame, pushing its overall FWA connection base to 4.2 million, while Verizon nearly doubled its connection base to nearly 2.7 million connections at the end of Q3.

T-Mobile US has worked to deepen the use of its 2.5 GHz spectrum holdings to support its FWA growth. The carrier recently gained government approval to access more of those spectrum assets and the carrier has also started to test the use of its millimeter-wave (mmWave) spectrum holdings to further boost FWA network speeds.

T-Mobile US CEO Mike Sievert told an investor conference this week that the carrier has designed its network to support up to 80 gigabytes of usage per month by each customer. However, T-Mobile US EVP and CTO John Saw said during a keynote speech at the MWC Las Vegas event that its FWA customers were using around 450 gigabytes of data per month.

The carrier has managed this disparity by parsing out FWA connections to its network. This includes monitoring of network capacity per cell site, which can impact on a day-to-day basis the ability for new customers to sign up for the service.

“If three people in your neighborhood sign up, or four or five people depending on the sector, the whole neighborhood comes off our list until such time as we’ve got that excess capacity again,” Sievert had previously stated.

Verizon has taken a similar path.

The carrier has been integrating more of its C-band spectrum holdings into its 5G network to boost overall network capacity. It’s also been aggressive in tying its deep mmWave spectrum to further bolster its FWA service.

Verizon CEO Hans Vestberg during the carrier’s third-quarter earnings call boasted that it has constructed its network to handle “way more” FWA connections.

Ookla also dug more deeply into its T-Mobile US numbers to find that customers that did leave the service consistently had slower network performance compared to the average customer, “highlighting the importance of ISPs ensuring consistent performance across their user base.”

FWA’s geographic and enterprise potential

Geographically, T-Mobile US provided higher FWA service speeds in rural areas compared with Verizon, while Verizon provided higher FWA service speed in urban markets.

Vestberg during the carrier’s Q3 call that it plans to expand the geographic reach of its FWA service toward more rural areas beginning next year.

“That’s an even greater opportunity for us because there are more underserved markets and our fixed-wireless access will come extremely quickly into those markets,” Vestberg said of those expansion plans.

Those efforts could be bolstered by the U.S. government’s Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment (BEAD) program. That program has set aside $42.5 billion toward expanding the reach of broadband services across the U.S.

Vestberg told investors at this week’s UBS conference that mmWave-infused FWA services should be privy to BEAD funding.

“I still think that fixed-wireless access is one of the best solutions for the BEAD money … because it’s much quicker,” Vestberg said. “You get broadband immediately to the digital divide that we all are trying to close.”

Both operators are also seeing strong FWA uptake from the lucrative enterprise space.

Verizon recently reported that one-third of the carrier’s FWA connection growth is coming from the carrier’s enterprise organization.

“It resonates with customers,” Verizon CFO Tony Skiadas told an audience at the recent Morgan Stanley European Technology, Media and Telecom Conference. “It’s very simple for businesses as well. You don’t have to run wires, so customers liked the product. They like the security and the reliability of the Verizon network and that’s something that’s very important for business customers.”

Skiadas also showed his CFO hat by adding that even if that enterprise usage is for backup, “it’s low usage, high margin,” though the carrier is also starting to see adoption by enterprises looking to connect branches and stores.

Mishka Dehgan, SVP for strategy, product and solutions engineering at T-Mobile’s Business Group, told SDxCentral during an interview at the MWC Las Vegas event that the carrier is also seeing enterprise FWA growth opportunities, highlighting a specific business need.

“Usually what you see with fixed wireless is a nationwide, distributed footprint that the customer wants to light up,” Dehgan said.

Dehgan also pointed to T-Mobile US’ recent deepening of its enterprise-focused FWA equipment through partnerships with Cisco and Cradlepoint.

The success of Verizon and T-Mobile US’ FWA efforts recently pressured AT&T to become more active in the space. The carrier officially launched its Internet Air service in mid-August, following pointed comments from management that the service was not financially sustainable.

Is FWA a competitive threat?

Ookla also found that FWA services are putting pressure on traditional broadband providers to the financial benefit of customers.

“The aggressive pricing strategies of FWA providers have driven prices down across the market, with cable providers for example offering slimmed down broadband and content packages at competitive prices,” the firm noted in its report.

Management for both Verizon and T-Mobile US have downplayed that pricing and competitive pressure until they get a better handle on the overall economic picture of their FWA services.

“I’ve been very clear as it relates to our fixed 5G service that it plays a role in the marketplace and we’ll feel some single-digit penetration roll,” Sievert said during an investor event earlier this year. “It’s a very mainstream offer, but we don’t think it’s going to take over cable and fiber. It kind of looks like it right now because our net-add performance is better than everybody’s, but I’ve always been clear that we see some single-digit millions of penetration, single-digit percentage of penetration. We’re on our way there, we’re well ahead of schedule.”

Established broadband providers have also dismissed a financial impact from the growth of FWA connections.

“We expect it to continue to be competitive for a while,” Comcast President Mike Cavanagh said at an investor conference earlier this month. “Fixed wireless will kind of run for a while still, it looks like, but in the end, we believe it's going after the low-end, it's serving a purpose for folks that can live with a product that has its characteristics. But as time passes and more and more activity is driven over the internet and average use of that continues to drive higher, I think we'll see the opportunity to pull some of that market back and compete effectively once the moment passes.”