- A ConnectX panel argued fixed wireless offers scalable, affordable connectivity for SMBs
- But carriers need to make sure they have speed-to-market to offer business services
- Carriers must also contend with spectrum and capacity challenges
CONNECTX, CHICAGO – Fixed wireless access (FWA) is gaining momentum among broadband consumers, but ConnectX panelists noted the technology also has plenty of room to grow in the business sphere.
Anand Sundaram, VP at supply chain and logistics company KGPCo, said FWA’s scalability and affordability are particularly valuable for small and mid-sized businesses with many remote retail locations, which require service for point-of-sale customer operations.
FWA is also useful for “anything that’s temporary,” he added, like food trucks, events or even emergency services. Digital signage is another common use case for business fixed wireless subscribers, said Ron Heron, senior director for business product, services and solutions at UScellular.
Fixed wireless isn’t just for small rural businesses either, according to George Hellmuth, head of North American Sales at Tarana. “You’ll see warehouse districts in certain parts of [downtown areas]” have FWA, because there may not be enough fiber infrastructure in that area to keep employees connected.
Businesses aren’t only using FWA as a backup, Heron said. UScellular is seeing “a lot of primary [internet customers]” even in areas where fiber is already available. Ultimately, businesses' willingness to subscribe to FWA depends on how much these businesses are willing to pay and the experience they have had with the wireline provider.
What should carriers consider if they want to deploy FWA to businesses? “Speed-to-market is clearly an important factor here,” said Kim Morrison, VP of customer growth and delivery at Circet USA, a network infrastructure company that helps FWA providers handle work such as site acquisition and tower installation – obstacles they can encounter “right out of the gate.”
“Where some of these service providers don’t have that experience, we’re able to jump in and lend a hand,” she said.
FWA capacity constraints
Spectrum – and the lack thereof – is a critical issue for the wireless industry. This is especially true for operators that have to allocate spectrum for both their FWA and mobile customers.
“There [are] situations where the customer wants something I can’t provide, just from terms of capacity, distance, what have you,” Heron said.
Moreover, a FWA customer uses “10 to 20 times the bandwidth” of a mobile subscriber, Sundaram said. Not only is it important for service providers to design their networks appropriately for FWA consumption, but they also need to make sure their sales team is aware of how much capacity is actually available.
“So they’re not overselling in certain areas that have high mobile coverage,” he added.