Fixed Wireless Services Made Big Strides in 2023

On January 25, it was reported that T-Mobile added 541,000 fixed wireless access (FWA) subscribers during the fourth quarter of 2023. T-Mobile reportedly gained about 2.1 million subscribers to its 5G-enabled FWA residential broadband Internet services in 2023. Also, it was reported that Verizon gained 375,000 FWA subscribers in the fourth quarter of last year. According to reports, upwards of 80% of Verizon’s FWA subscriber additions are served in markets where Verizon obtained mid-band spectrum through the Commission's C-Band spectrum license auction. All told, T-Mobile and Verizon have a combined total of nearly 8 million FWA subs, with T-Mobile having about 4.78 million.

Importantly, AT&T launched its FWA services mid-way through 2023. AT&T is just getting started and it reportedly gained 67,000 FWA subscribers in the fourth quarter, bringing AT&T's total up to about 93,000. 

FWA has perhaps been the biggest breakthrough in the broadband internet services market to take place since the FCC released its Restoring Internet Freedom Order in 2018. Market entry by three nationwide FWA providers provides an ideal platform for accessing broadband in many rural areas. And in many cases, FWA entry boosts the number of fixed broadband access competitors for Americans in local markets already served by cable, fiber, and satellite broadband services. 

 

In the RIF Order, the Commission "conclude[d] that reclassification of broadband Internet access service from Title II to Title I is likely to increase ISP investment and output." The launch and rapid rollout of FWA is a critical output and it has been enabled by heavy capital investment, including investment in spectrum licenses won at competitive bidding auctions. 

 

On January 17, Free State Foundation President Randolph May and I filed reply comments in the FCC's Safeguarding and Securing the Open Internet proceeding. In those reply comments, we recommended that the Commission keep the free market-oriented, light-touch regulatory framework for broadband Internet services established under the RIF Order. In FSF's reply comments, we quoted many of the doomsday predictions made by pro-public utility regulation supporters about how the Internet would grind to a slow halt or stop and everyday users would be shuffled off into Internet slow lanes while fat cats would ride high on Internet fast lanes. None of that ever happened. In fact, the opposite happened, as speeds have continued to increase since early 2018 and next-generation broadband services like FWA deployed nationwide to boost access and competition.