Is Fixed Wireless an "Inferior" Product or Not?

Cable TV suppliers of internet access continue to argue that fixed wireless is an “inferior” product whose market impact is temporary, while the hybrid fiber coax product offers performance advantages. 

Others might simply argue that fixed wireless is an attractive "value" oriented product that perhaps 20 percent of the present market is willing to buy--and does buy--services operating at 200 Mbps or less. In other words, there is significant demand for “inferior” products in the home broadband market. 

Over time, speeds will have to increase, in every category, including the “value” segment. But there is little reason to believe a significant portion of the market will stop preferring “value” connections, especially as speeds and prices continue to rise for all the other tiers of service. 

Source	Year	Percentage of Customers with Speeds of 200 Mbps or Lower
Openvault	2023	Up to 25%
FCC - Measuring Fixed Broadband - Twelfth Report	2023	15%
NTIA - 2020 Broadband Deployment Report	2020	43%
Leichtman Research Group - Q3 2023 Report	2023	32%
Pew Research Center - Broadband Adoption Report 2023	2023	28%

Fixed wireless access is “an inferior product with limited capacity and geographic coverage which is fluid, is often marketed by the phone companies at a perceived lower-priced to their existing customers, “ said Chris Winfrey, Charter Communications CEO. “ We continue to believe the impact from fixed wireless is temporary.”

Charter argues its hybrid fiber coax product is “faster and more reliable,” and can offer lower pricing when home broadband is purchased in a bundle with mobile or video services. 

Charter also believes the mobile operators will run out of sufficient capacity, eventually, and will have to limit the amount of capacity available to support fixed wireless. 

Of course, there also is competition on the high end. But Charter seems unconcerned about that. 

Overbuilders--generally using fiber-to-home platforms--”will not be able to take significant market share,” Charter also claims. “Overbuild impact tends to be limited to a few percentage points of Internet penetration during the first year of a new overbuild vintage coming online,” Winfrey argues. 

Others will question that assertion, particularly as the major telcos ramp up their fiber-to-home investments. Generally speaking, major telcos are able to get about 20 percent adoption initially, ramping up to about 40 percent share over several years.