Key findings
The proportion of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) service providers offering speed-based tariff plans has increased from 43 percent to 54 percent in one year.
FWA connections are forecast to grow from 185 million at the end of 2025 to 350 million by the end of 2031.
In 2031, around 1.4 billion people globally will be served by FWA broadband.
FWA is continuing to grow solidly in terms of the:
- Adoption: Proportion of service providers offering it over 5G
- Monetization: Share of service providers with speed-based tariff plans
- Scale: Number of connections and the traffic volume per connection
Continued global FWA momentum
An updated Ericsson study[1] of retail packages offered by service providers reveals that 81 percent have an FWA offering. There are 159 service providers offering FWA services over 5G, representing 65 percent of all FWA service providers.
Figure 3: Global FWA service provider adoption 2022–2025
Over half of FWA service providers now offer speed-based tariff plans
Speed-based tariff plans are commonly offered for fixed broadband services, such as those delivered over fiber or cable. Consumers understand this type of plan well, enabling service providers to monetize FWA as a broadband alternative. Speed-based tariff plans are now offered by 54 percent of FWA service providers, up from 43 percent a year ago. The remaining 46 percent offer only volume-based tariff plans (buckets of GB per month).
Taking into account only the service providers that offer 5G FWA services, 70 percent offer speed-based tariff plans.
Figure 4: Regional FWA service provider adoption 2025
Regional variations
There are large regional variations in the proportion of service providers adopting FWA:
- FWA adoption is widespread globally. In five out of six regions, 75 percent or more service providers are offering FWA.
- In the past year, there has been continuous growth in the number of service providers offering speed-based plans, driven primarily by Western Europe.
- Latin America has the most potential to increase the number of service providers that offer FWA over 5G and speed-based tariff plans.
FWA connection advancements
- During Q2 2025, Jio grew to become the largest global FWA provider in terms of the number of connections, with 9.5 million connections as of Q3 2025.
- There is robust demand for FWA in India, with the combined number of connections from Jio and Airtel reaching 12 million as of September 2025.
- In the US, the three largest service providers achieved all-time-high quarterly FWA net adds of 1.04 million connections in Q3 2025. As a result, their combined FWA user base stands at 14.6 million connections.
- High-growth markets are leveraging FWA to drive revenue expansion. For example, Smart Philippines reported a 12 percent year-on-year increase in 5G FWA connections, with FWA revenues emerging as the fastest-growing segment of mobile revenues with an increase of 22 percent year-on-year.
- A recent FWA customer premises equipment (CPE) survey, which encompasses insights from 17 leading vendors, projects shipments of 35 million CPE units in 2025, representing a 26 percent year-on-year growth.[2] Notably, 57 percent of these shipments are expected to be 5G-capable.
FWA monetization advancements
- Cosmote, Greece, has introduced differentiated 5G FWA connectivity, reaching 19,000 connections at the end of Q2 2025. This enabled the total fixed broadband segment to achieve growth and reverse the negative trajectory seen from previous quarters.
- In the US, FWA is a major factor in 5G standalone (SA) traffic growth, primarily driven by leading service providers.
- Telstra has launched “Dynamic 5G,” an advanced FWA solution tailored for enterprise customers. This offering is based on differentiated connectivity with guaranteed performance levels.
350 million FWA connections by 2031
While 5G FWA adoption is strong in many markets, uptake in certain regions – particularly Latin America, Africa and parts of South East Asia – remains comparatively limited. Nonetheless, many of these regions have substantial underlying demand and long-term growth potential as consumers want high-speed, reliable broadband services. Markets with strong 5G FWA growth excel in two areas:
- 5G deployment maturity: Characterized by broad 5G population coverage, in particular 5G mid-band coverage (see the network coverage forecast on page 15), as well as adoption of 5G SA and 5G Advanced.
- FWA monetization maturity: Refers to a variety of 5G FWA offerings, in particular speed-based FWA such as tiered speed plans. More advanced service providers are offering a premium experience FWA based on differentiated connectivity.
Markets that have experienced strong FWA growth, including the US and India, excel in both of these areas. Conversely, regions with slower growth in FWA connections typically have limited 5G deployment and monetization maturity. Consequently, the aggregated FWA connection forecast has been adjusted one year forward, and is expected to grow from 185 million at the end of 2025 to 350 million by the end of 2031, with 90 percent of the connections being on 5G. Considering a global average household size of about four people, this equates to approximately 1.4 billion individuals being served by FWA broadband by the end of 2031.
In 2031, around 1.4 billion people globally will be served by FWA broadband, with 90 percent on 5G.
Half of global FWA connections to be in Asia-Pacific by 2031
Higher volumes of 5G FWA in populous, high-growth countries can drive economies of scale for the overall 5G FWA ecosystem, resulting in even more affordable CPE. Asia-Pacific’s share of global FWA connections is expected to increase from just over 40 percent in 2025 to 50 percent by 2031.
FWA impact on global mobile network data traffic
At the end of 2025, FWA data traffic is set to represent 27 percent of global mobile data traffic and is projected to grow by a factor of over 3 to reach around 174 EB per month by the end of 2031. This will represent 36 percent of total mobile network data traffic.
