Can LTE Replace Fixed Wireless?

AT&T says it will invest $14 billion over three years in new broadband facilities, including $8 billion for mobile and $6 billion for fixed network initiatives. The program would bring "fiber to the node" services to 75 percent of AT&T customer locations. 

Perhaps significantly, AT&T says the investments will provide Long Term Evolution high speed access to 99 percent of AT&T's customer locations. 

In other words, one might argue that nearly a quarter of AT&T customers might find that faster broadband access is made possible by LTE mobile networks. 

Some now argue that LTE can replace T1 service. Others argue that cable modem service can cannibalize both T1 and DS3 or other high-capacity access services. That might be more true for business customers than consumers, given the higher price-per-bit of LTE access, compared to either telco DSL, fiber to the node, fiber to the home or cable modem high speed access. 


In some ways, that is a simple continuation of global trends we have seen since the mid-1990s, when mobile began to represent a greater share of industry revenue. 

In 2016, IDATE predicts that the number of LTE subscribers will exceed 900 million, compared to nearly 230 million for fixed ultrafast-broadband using fiber to the home, fiber to the building or high speed digital subscriber line (VDSL).