Page 29 - SAMENA ELITE - October-December 2024

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Fixed Wireless Access Users Go Past FTTH, Consume 600 GB Data a
Month

Just over a year after its launch, telcos require permission for right-of- would be far higher than FTTH. We
fixed wireless access (FWA) homes way to install the fibre underground — believe this is due to unsatisfied
— powered by 5G — are consuming a time-consuming process. demand for data in areas that were
data at unprecedented levels. not connected with FTTH, which is slow
According to telecommunications FWA is already a key element in to roll out. Once FWA was introduced,
companies (telcos), who have been monetising 5G investments. FWA data homes with multiple family members
taken by surprise, the average data usage is a whopping 16 times greater took advantage of the high speeds
consumption per subscriber home than that of mobile data, which is to stream movies and videos. It might
on FWA has reached a staggering currently pegged at around 30 GB stabilise after the initial phase of the
500 to 600 gigabytes (GB) per month, per subscriber per month. This also launch as more subscribers and
far surpassing the consumption of translates into four to five times higher homes are added.”
consumer homes on fibre-to-the- average revenue per user compared
home (FTTH) broadband. to a mobile subscriber. FWA: The data powerhouse of India
Data consumption on fixed wireless
Telcos report that FTTH services, Ericsson estimates that 5G-powered access (FWA) is 16 times higher than
which are more stable and offer FWA will soar in India, reaching that of a mobile subscriber and nearly
higher speeds, have seen monthly 85-100 million homes by 2030. Within double that of fibre-to-the-home in a
consumption per subscriber home a few years, India is expected to month
ranging from 250 to 300 GB. overtake the US, which currently has 7 • Average revenue per user of FWA
million customers. India has already homes is four to five times higher
FWA services were first introduced in surpassed 3 million 5G-powered FWA than that of mobile subscribers per
India by Reliance Jio in September last subscribers, and globally, the number month
year, initially in eight cities, and are of 5G FWA subscribers is expected to • Estimates suggest that between 85
now available in over 7,700 towns and increase. and 100 million homes in India will
cities across the country. In what is Experts suggest that the high data be connected with FWA by 2030
the fastest rollout of FWA in the world, consumption on FWA may be due to • Reliance Jio hit its first 1 million FWA
Jio reached 2.8 million subscribers in the easy availability of broadband subscribers within 90 months but
the second quarter of 2024-25, more in homes in areas previously reached its next million in just 60
than doubling its subscriber count unconnected by FTTH, creating days
from the previous quarter. Its target is unsatisfied demand. • Bharti Airtel is upgrading its network
to reach 100 million homes with FWA from non-standalone to
and FTTH. A top executive from a leading Indian standalone 5G to provide better
telco offering the service states, “We quality FWA service to customers
Bharti Airtel, which launched its did not expect that FWA data usage
services a few months after Jio in
Delhi and Mumbai, has now rolled out
FWA in around 1,300 towns and cities
across India. It is also upgrading its
network from a non-standalone 4G
core to a standalone 5G core, which
will support FWA speeds.

In FWA, the last mile to the home
is wireless 5G connected to a
tower, making it easier to scale up
broadband rollout. In FTTH, the last-
mile connection is on fibre, for which

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