Recently, during the 2024 MBBF event, 2024 Global FWA Evolution Roundtable was successfully held, attracting over 80 representatives from telecom operators, industry analysts, and ecosystem partners worldwide. Attendees shared insights on the latest developments in FWA and discussed current advancements and future directions for the technology.

Li Jie, President of Huawei’s 5G & LTE TDD Product Line, opened the session by stating, “With fiber-like experiences, 5G FWA enables operators to rapidly acquire customers and expand. The 5.5G not only provides a 10-fold increase in speed, but also enhanced uplink capabilities and lower latency, which will drive the development of AI devices and smart homes. The thriving FWA ecosystem, backed by Huawei’s end-to-end FWA solutions, is advancing along a diversified path, offering operators new business success.”

The roundtable led to three key insights and agreements:

  1. FWA as a Killer App in the 5G Era: Following years of advancement, 5G FWA has emerged as a killer application. With speeds 10 times faster than 4G, it delivers a fiber-like experience, becoming the preferred choice for home broadband to meet entertainment and lifestyle needs, enabling quick monetization for operators. Nearly 60% of global 5G operators have now adopted 5G FWA.
  2. Diversified Demand for Home Broadband and Comprehensive Support from 5.5G: As home broadband applications expand, users are demanding more devices, higher-quality content, and smoother interactions, moving towards AI-powered smart homes. 5.5G not only enhances downlink speeds but also ensures optimal performance in uplink and latency, catering to the ultimate experience for home broadband, signaling a new stage for the FWA industry.
  3. Extending Home Broadband Capabilities with AI: AI breathes new life into the FWA industry, extending home broadband functionalities. Brandon Leigh, CEO and Founder of South Africa’s rain and rainx, shared innovations: “Using Huawei’s 5.5G and rainx’s innovative CPEs, we’re taking advantage of increased user data throughput, capacity & network reliability to deliver a richer user experiences and strengthen ROI. With the 101 Pro’s 300MHz 4 carrier aggregation and AI-powered Wi-Fi 7, an exciting new, portable 5G device designed for customer as future smart home hub are opening up new markets.”

Additionally, the FWA ecosystem is progressing in tandem, with over 2,000 5G CPE models now available and low-cost terminals expected to drop below $50 this year. Commercial 5G.5G CPEs supporting 3CC and mmWave have achieved peak rates of 10Gbps in tests, and multiple manufacturers are integrating AI computing chips into CPEs to support intelligent FWA upgrades.

Huawei remains at the forefront of innovation, optimizing the end-to-end FWA process with its Easy FWA solution, from service activation and user management to operations. The WTTx Suite enhances home broadband experiences with precision service activation and real-time streaming support from Service Turbo, aiding operators in achieving multi-dimensional revenue streams. At the end of the session, Huawei proposed a 5.5G FWA white paper initiative, urging FWA industry representatives to share new explorations and case studies on 5.5G  FWA capabilities, collectively defining industry standards and expanding the development space for FWA.

Since its inception, FWA has achieved remarkable progress, becoming the preferred solution for home broadband and a key application of 5G. In the new era of 5G-A and AI, Huawei will continue driving innovation, working with industry partners to reach new heights for the FWA industry.