FWA is starting to gather momentum in UK

The idea of Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) has been belittled in the past, but it is moving beyond ‘flash in the pan’ territory and becoming a genuine alternative across the UK.

Some have been harping on about the benefits of FWA for years, while others have snubbed the concept for more traditional means of broadband connectivity, but there is growing interest in the technology throughout 2019. The latest to join the hype is Macquarie Capital, yet another private investment company looking to capitalise on the sluggish telco segment. Here, the team is backing the rollout of FWA solutions in rural communities.

“The roll-out of superfast and ultrafast broadband has too often focused on the UK’s urban centres – leaving untapped investment requirements in the UK’s rural communities,” said Oliver Bradley of Macquarie Capital.

“We believe that using Macquarie Capital’s unique principal investment and development expertise there is a significant opportunity to work with Voneus to accelerate the deployment of UK rural broadband, this will help unlock significant economic and social benefits for the UK.”

Working alongside emerging ‘alt-net’ Voneus, Macquarie Capital will invest £10 million initially and an additional £30 million through various different build-out phases. FWA will be the tip of the spear, as Voneus looks to focus on 900,000 homes across the UK countryside who still don’t have access to Superfast broadband services.

“Macquarie Capital’s backing is a huge endorsement of Voneus’ business model and vision, as well as an indication of how much work still needs to be done to connect the many homes and business across the UK that still do not have access to decent broadband services,” said Steve Leighton, CEO of Voneus.

While the only option for genuine 100% future-proofed broadband connectivity is fibre, the FWA revolution does offer considerable benefits. Firstly, it is faster to deploy as last-mile connectivity is over-the-air, removing the complications of civil engineering. Secondly, it is cheaper to deploy raising the interests of the telcos. And finally, it satisfies the need for the moment.

FWA could be viewed as half-way house on the road to full-fibre deployment as it offers the connectivity speeds which are required today. Some Government targets for broadband infrastructure are non-sensical as they focus on technology not the desired outcome. If the immediate desire is to deliver relevant download speeds in the home, this can be done through FWA solutions. There is no reason why FWA can’t address the immediate challenge, assuming of course there are on-going plans to rollout fibre infrastructure over a reasonable period of time simultaneously.

This is what Voneus is proposing. It will deliver FWA connectivity in areas which have largely been ignored by the traditional providers, while also working the business case to deploy full-fibre broadband in the future.

This approach might irritate some of the traditional telcos in the UK, but there are cases around the world where it has been proven a success. Over in the US, Starry is a FWA ISP which is rapidly expanding. Although it is focused on multi-dwelling units in major cities, the theoretical business model, and customer appetite has been proven.

Closer to home, Three and Vodafone have also launched their own FWA propositions for 5G. It will be interesting to see how these convergence strategies play out, but Three already has 800,000 home broadband subscribers through its acquisition of UK Broadband. This is an area of great potential for these two broadband challengers, especially should the reliability of FWA be proven as 5G rolls out across the country.

The idea of a fibre spine and wireless wings is not a new one, but it is certainly one which has merit. Here, Voneus could certainly gain traction in areas which have been neglected by the traditional player because of the high-cost of deploying infrastructure. FWA can be a good idea, just as long as its not the final goal for the ISP in question.