According to the provider, the FWA solution delivers QoS control, geo-restriction, home-zoning, differentiated charging, and advanced power savings among others.

“FWA using LTE or 5G radio formats provides much more stable performance than the 802.11-based links that are popular today. In my testing, a CBRS-based LTE link has only 0.1% packet loss compared with 8.5% for an 802.11-based FWA link,” said Mobile Experts chief analyst Joe Madden.

“Four years ago, higher packet loss may have been acceptable, but today’s work-from-home environment requires a very stable, reliable link for video conferencing. For that reason, our forecasting anticipates a strong trend toward 3GPP technology in FWA, and Open RAN solutions will be popular due to their low cost.”

Mavenir’s FWA solution supports 4G, 5G NSA, (non-standalone) and 5G SA deployments, supporting massive MIMO radio technology and 5G millimetre wave frequency bands to enable gigabit downlink speeds to multiple users in the same coverage area.

Mavenir claims this positions 5G FWA as a competitive alternative. The FWA solution is delivered on converged infrastructure to provide a lean solution with maximum downlink throughput. It can be deployed on any cloud (public, hybrid and public), accelerating time to market and reducing CapEx and OpEx.

“5G and Open RAN transform the FWA space to make it easier and more feasible to connect the unconnected and foster much needed competition,” said BG Kumar, President of Access Networks and Platforms, Mavenir.

“The FWA solution enables mobile operators to position themselves as an affordable and reliable alternative to cable and fibre deployments in rural, suburban, and even urban settings,” said Mavenir president of access networks and platforms BG Kumar.

In rural areas, FWA provides higher downlink speeds than DSL and lower packet latency than most satellite internet service providers. This brings access to new use cases that were not possible in rural areas before, such as telemedicine, online education, and work from home flexibility.

Mavenir’s FWA solution has been deployed by 360 Communications, Rina Wireless, and Triangle Communications in the United States as well as Quickline in the United Kingdom.

This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 18 January 2023.