- Cambium is liquidating and ending production of switches, Wi-Fi access points and network service edge (NSE) devices as administrators shop its enterprise unit
- Airspan will pair Cambium's transport gear with its own 5G access and manage the combined system from a single console
- Enterprise FWA subscriptions will grow from 14 million in 2026 to 36 million by 2032, according to ABI Research projections
Airspan has snapped up Cambium’s fixed wireless access (FWA) transport products and 135 staff, as Cambium ceases operations and administrators work to sell off its enterprise business.
Cambium announced its liquidation this week, and the company said many product lines have ceased production, including OnMatrix switches, Wi-Fi access points and network service edge (NSE) devices. The company expects that its cnMaestro Cloud will continue in operation through Oct. 1
Cambium said it knows that the news will come as a “shock” to customers and that administrators are actively pursuing potential transactions.
Airspan swooped in with the first of these Tuesday, buying Cambium’s FWA transport portfolio and hiring 135 related staff. The assets will help Airspan further build an end-to-end 5G FWA system aimed at industrial applications rather than consumer usage. The Cambium point-to-point (PTP) and point-to-multipoint (PTMP) transport systems will enable Airspan to sell more into the defense and critical infrastructure areas.
“This deal is somewhat unique,” said Airspan CEO Glenn Laxdal , talking to FNTV on Tuesday. “Today, we are announcing and closing this deal.”
Airspan is already shipping Cambium products and is communicating to Cambium customers, system integrators and distributors that it has taken control of the FWA transport portfolio and can continue to fulfill orders, Laxdal said.
“[Cambium's products] comprise the transport layer ... where we come in is we add our 5G access, which works on the hook of that transport layer,” Laxdal said. “So now we have a pretty uniquely differentiated end-to-end solution, which addresses the service provider space, the critical infrastructure space and the defense tech space.”
Airspan will absorb all this into its management platform. “So that we have, basically, one pane of glass to manage that end-to-end system,” Laxdal said.
Who are the competitors?
The enterprise FWA market, measured by subscribers, is expected to more than double in size in the next six years. ABI Research has said that total enterprise FWA subscriptions are expected to reach 36 million by 2032, up from 14 million in 2026. Much of that growth will come in North America, accounting for more than 50% of global subscriptions throughout the forecast period.
That’s why there are new and established competitors creeping into the FWA market. Nokia and Aviat Networks are really the rivals in the FWA transport backhaul space, Laxdal said. “While close to the end user for point-to-multipoint fixed wireless access ... it's really Tarana and Ubiquiti,” he said.
Starlink is “a potential competitor” that will deliver point-to-multipoint FWA for broadband ISPs, Laxdal said. He believes it will start in the rural space and move to suburban markets.
There are many competitors in the wider consumer FWA space, including T-Mobile and Verizon. That’s why Airspan is focused on providing differentiated systems for the industrial FWA market, Laxdal said.