Tuesday, June 24, 2025

Fixed Wireless for Home Broadband is the Biggest New 5G Revenue Source

The Ericsson Mobility Report for the first quarter of 2025 is the 11th consecutive quarter in which fixed wireless has accounted for nearly all broadband net additions in the U.S. market. 


During the quarter, AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile collectively added 913,000 new connections, bringing the total number of 5G FWA connections to 12.5 million. The number of 4G connections boosts the total further. 


Globally, most fixed wireless connections still rely on 4G. 


source: Ericsson 


And even if fiber to the home is the dominant home broadband trend, fixed wireless continues to be an important platform, as digital subscriber line and hybrid fiber coax connections decrease. 


source: Ericsson 


Despite all the hoped-for advances 5G would bring in terms of new services, so far it is fixed wireless for home broadband which seems to be the biggest new revenue source for mobile service providers, aside from faster mobile internet access. And some of us would say 5G for mobile broadband is not a “new” service but simply the latest version of mobile broadband, as 4G displaced 3G, for example. 


In fact, there is an argument to be made that fixed wireless for home broadband is bigger than all the other “new” 5G services put together, even using arguably optimistic estimates of new revenue. 


5G Service Type

Estimated 2025 U.S. Annual Revenue (USD)

Notes

Sources

Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)

$10–12 billion

Largest segment; includes premium mobile plans, high-speed data, streaming, gaming

1,2,3

Fixed Wireless Access (FWA)

$5–7 billion

Rapidly growing; over 10 million U.S. homes expected on FWA by end of 2024

4,5

Internet of Things (IoT/mMTC)

$2–3 billion

Includes smart cities, industrial IoT, logistics, and connected devices

1,2,3

5G Entertainment & Gaming

$1–2 billion

Cloud gaming, AR/VR, immersive media

2

5G Advertising

$0.5–1 billion

Targeted, high-speed, interactive ads

2

Private 5G Networks/Enterprise

$1–2 billion

Dedicated enterprise networks for manufacturing, healthcare, logistics, etc.

3


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