Dell’Oro Group VP Jeff Heynen told RCR that U.S. operators are being careful not to over-utilize their spectrum for FWA
Disciplined expansion – Operators are carefully managing spectrum and capacity to protect mobile performance, limiting how aggressively Fixed Wireless Access can scale.
Bundling and competition – Lower-cost bundles remain attractive to consumers, but cable competition and churn between FWA providers could temper subscriber gains.
This week, Dell’Oro Group released a report finding that Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) continues to gain momentum, with total FWA revenues — including RAN equipment, residential CPE, and enterprise routers and gateways — on track to grow by roughly 10% in 2025. RCR Wireless News followed up with Dell’Oro Group Vice President Jeff Heynen for a deeper dive into the findings.
While the firm expects the big three U.S. operators to expand the availability of FWA services in both existing and new markets, Heynen acknowledged that this assumption could “certainly” change, resulting in lower or higher subscriber growth than projected.
“Along those same lines, we are starting to see subscriber churn between the FWA providers, not just among DSL, cable, and fiber providers,” he said. “Cable operators are now fighting back with aggressive bundled pricing with no contracts for converged mobile and fixed broadband services. There is a very real chance that those efforts will result in FWA subscriber growth stalling.”
However, Heynen added that Fixed Wireless Access still has meaningful room to expand, particularly in underserved markets shaped by years of limited cable investment, as well as among customers looking to consolidate mobile and broadband services under a single provider. “Household budgets remain extremely tight, so the attractiveness of a lower-cost bundle will always be there,” he said.
T-Mobile US, Verizon, and AT&T all made material gains in FWA subscriber numbers in 2025. Heynen views FWA as a “primary option” for T-Mobile US and Verizon, but “more of a complement” for AT&T, which he said remains more focused on fiber expansion.
U.S. operators, however, are being careful not to over-utilize their spectrum for FWA. “The last thing they want is for bottlenecks to occur that impact the mobile broadband experience,” Heynen said. Because subscribers pay significantly more per gigabyte for mobile data than they do for FWA, utilization rates — even in the most congested markets — are closely managed, to the point where operators may place prospective customers on waiting lists in certain areas.
Operators are also unlikely to invest in new RAN equipment simply to expand their FWA offerings. “It just doesn’t make economic sense because of the cost per gigabit relative to mobile broadband,” he continued.
A similar dynamic is emerging in India, the other major Fixed Wireless Access market at present. Heynen explained that there is some risk that Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel — both of which are adding millions of subscribers annually — may not be able to sustain their current growth rates without impacting network performance.
Looking ahead, Heynen said vendors and operators should closely monitor two factors over the next year that could materially alter the Fixed Wireless Access outlook: rising competition from low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite providers, and whether operators continue expanding FWA availability or instead cap service growth in favor of additional fiber investment.