Foreign operators are using 5G to replace wired broadband. Will domestic operators do the same?

In the imagination of domestic users, the main application of 5G is to use 5G mobile phones to quickly access the Internet. In foreign countries, 5G has another scenario application: FWA, which is Fixed Wireless Access. In simple terms, it uses 5G and other wireless access methods to provide users with home Internet services instead of using copper cables and optical fibers to access the Internet.

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5G

According to IT Times, more and more foreign operators and equipment manufacturers are investing in FWA 5G construction. Recently, T-Mobile, a mainstream US operator, is preparing to launch FWA 5G home Internet services. It is understood that T-Mobile's FWA 5G service is mainly based on the 600MHz low-frequency band. In the future, it may bring users higher-speed home Internet services through 2.5GHz and 600MHz band carrier aggregation. When Verizon launched the millimeter-wave-based FWA 5G, T-Mobile CEO John Legere also ridiculed that it was not "real 5G" because it could not move.

China's fiber optic coverage rate from 2019 to 2020 (Source: Ministry of Industry and Information Technology)

Although FWA 5G services are popular abroad, they are not common in China because the domestic fiber coverage rate is very high and there is almost no place for FWA. According to data from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the proportion of fiber-optic access users in my country reached 93.4% at the end of November 2020. In remote areas, 98% of administrative villages in my country achieved "dual access" (fiber and 4G) last year, so it seems unnecessary to replace fiber with 5G to provide home broadband services.