Mobile Devices

FWA likely to eat into fiber, cable in coming years

15 January 2026

Fixed wireless access is gaining traction among consumers in rapid fashion.

A recent survey from J.D. Power found that consumers see FWA as an increasingly better value than fiberoptic and cable internet. Additionally, the technology, which uses cellular technology for broadband, has a higher rate of satisfaction compared to these other broadband technologies. As a result, FWA has grown by 47% to 11.8 million subscribers in the U.S., according to J.D. Power.

Market research firm Dell’Oro Group forecasts that total FWA revenues including RAN equipment, residential consumer premise equipment and enterprise router and gateway revenue remain on track to advance 10% in 2025.

The company said it will likely result in FWA services expanding and stealing away more customers that are unhappy with DSL and cable broadband.

“In the US, we continue to see the largest mobile operators expand their availability of FWA services in both existing and new markets, especially as FWA service revenue has boosted overall earnings,” said Jeff Heynen, VP at Dell’Oro Group. “Mobile operators in India, Southeast Asia, Europe and the Middle East are taking a page from the U.S. operators’ book and are quickly expanding their own FWA offerings, especially with the imminent threat of Starlink, Amazon, OneWeb, and other LEO satellite broadband providers.”

To contact the author of this article, email PBrown@globalspec.com


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Discussion – 1 comment

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Re: FWA likely to eat into fiber, cable in coming years
#1
2026-Jan-15 12:58 PM

We cut the cable several years ago because we don't need the crazy high bandwidth that you can get with fiber or coax, and both Comcast and Verizon charge stupidly high rates for their services. Making the switch was saving us over $200 per month because the way that those providers structure their packages. They do everything they can to get you on their Triple Pay plans and when you try to go Internet only, they soak you for that. The 5G Internet access through T-Mobile is good enough to stream TV channels and do the usual 'Net surfing for about $50 per month.

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