Nokia launches a 5G FWA router and Optus buys some of them

Nokia’s big MWC 2019 reveal went big on 5G fixed wireless access with the launch of its FastMile 5G Gateway.

FWA is a popular early use-case for 5G. It’s presumably a lot simpler to set up a 5G connection to a static domestic router than to a mobile handset, but you still get to say you’ve done some 5G. Aside from showcasing 5G in the wild, FWA is all about providing decent broadband to places that otherwise lack it.

Nokia claims the FastMile 5G Gateway serves up 10-25 times more bandwidth then LTE. It uses sub-6 GHz 5G spectrum, so will still have half-decent range. It’s being described as ‘plug-and-play’, which is geek-talk for ‘easy to set up’ and seems like a fairly inoffensive bit of industrial design. We don’t know what its costs though.

FWA is also being positioned as an early bit of ROI for operators upgrading their networks to 5G, although Nokia is only anticipating around 50% growth in its use – from 18 million to 27 million households globally – by 2022. When you’re dropping a ton of cash on a network upgrade it’s never to early to have something to show for it.

One operator that seems at least partially convinced is Optus in Australia, where you can imagine there are a fair few remote households in need of a bandwidth boost. It has been the first to trial the FastMile in a live network and seems to think it’s gone well, so much so that it will have 50 live 5G sites using it by the end of March.

“These are historic milestones for Optus as we focus on delivering our customers the very best 5G experience,” said Allen Lew, CEO at Optus. “Nokia has partnered with Optus to accelerate our preparations for 5G and as a result we are first in the world to deliver live 5G NR FWA services using the Nokia’s FastMile 5G Gateway.”

“We are excited to partner with Optus on their 5G vision with solutions that will create a better, more connected future for Australia,” said Sandra Motley, President of Nokia’s Fixed Networks Business Group. “With our 5G FastMile solution Optus will be able to unlock the full potential of its mobile network and deliver new ultra-broadband services to customers.”

The rest of Nokia’s announcements were predictably 5G-ish too. There are some trials and general 5G conviviality with Bharti Airtel, Korea Telecom and Vodafone. On top of that Nokia is helping Sony Pictures bleed its Spiderman asset yet again by combining with Intel to serve up some kind of 5G VR experience at their respective MWC booths.