In a new report, Omdia predicts that global fixed wireless access (FWA) subscriptions will more than double by the start of the next decade.
The research firm forecasts that FWA subscriptions to grow from 71 million in 2024 to 150 million by the start of the next decade, when they will account for nearly nine out of 10 (88%) of total connections.
Though India will become the world’s largest market with 37 million subscriptions, the United States market—with 20 million subscriptions—will remain significant as telecom companies expand their broadband footprint through diversified FWA offerings.
The report also notes Quality of Experience (QoE) is becoming a critical differentiator in 5G FWA offerings. Tier 1 operators are increasingly upselling based on service reliability, latency, and user-specific performance—particularly for gamers, remote workers, and video streamers—rather than relying solely on speed.
“Tier 1 operators must evolve beyond legacy deployment models and embrace segmentation, bundling, and AI-driven personalization to monetize 5G FWA effectively,” said Omdia Chief Analyst Nicole McCormick in a prepared statement about the 5G FWA report.
The Omdia report predicted that 5G FWA will surpass 4G FWA by 2027. The company says FWA technology is on a path toward overtaking DSL as the world’s third-largest broadband technology. As coaxial cable modem internet subscriptions continue to decrease, Omdia expects FWA to become the second-most-common broadband technology some time after 2030.
The Omdia report comes in the wake of J.D. Power’s 2025 U.S. Residential Internet Service Provider Study. The J.D. Power study showed that, while wireless and wireline providers have seen growth in sign-ups during the past half year, the number of new customers—meaning consumers who have been with their internet service provider for fewer than six months—grew 15% for wireless providers versus just 6% for wired providers. The report also found that satisfaction is higher for wireless internet, at 647 on a 1,000-point scale as compared with 554 for wired internet.