Latest news with #FWA
Time of India
a day ago
- Business
- Time of India
India adds 2.46 mn wireless subscribers in June 2025, led by urban growth
India's total wireless phone subscriber base, including mobile and 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA), rose to 1170.88 million at the end of June 2025, registering a monthly growth rate of 0.21 per cent, according to the latest data release by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). This marks an increase of 2.46 million subscribers from 1168.42 million recorded at the end of May 2025. Explore courses from Top Institutes in Please select course: Select a Course Category Product Management Project Management Design Thinking Technology Leadership Healthcare Digital Marketing Others PGDM Cybersecurity Public Policy Degree Artificial Intelligence MCA Finance others Data Science healthcare Data Analytics Management Data Science MBA CXO Operations Management Skills you'll gain: Product Strategy & Roadmapping User-Centric Product Design Agile Product Development Market Analysis & Product Launch Duration: 24 Weeks Indian School of Business Professional Certificate in Product Management Starts on Jun 26, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Product Strategy & Competitive Advantage Tactics Product Development Processes & Market Orientations Product Analytics & Data-Driven Decision Making Agile Development, Design Thinking, & Product Leadership Duration: 40 Weeks IIM Kozhikode Professional Certificate in Product Management Starts on Jun 26, 2024 Get Details Skills you'll gain: Creating Effective Product Roadmap User Research & Translating it to Product Design Key Metrics via Product Analytics Hand-On Projects Using Cutting Edge Tools Duration: 12 Weeks Indian School of Business ISB Product Management Starts on May 14, 2024 Get Details The overall growth was driven primarily by urban areas, which saw an increase from 634.91 million to 637.87 million wireless subscribers -- a monthly growth rate of 0.47 per cent. In contrast, rural wireless subscriptions declined slightly from 533.51 million to 533.00 million, reflecting a -0.10 per cent drop, the TRAI said. The data shows that the wireless mobile segment alone added 2 million new subscribers during June 2025, rising from 1161.03 million in May to 1163.03 million in June -- a 0.17 per cent monthly growth rate. The TRAI data reveals that the urban mobile subscribers grew from 630.42 million to 633.14 million, a growth rate of 0.43 per cent, while rural mobile subscribers declined from 530.60 million to 529.88 million, marking a -0.14 per cent decline. Live Events India's overall wireless tele-density improved slightly from 82.63 per cent in May to 82.74 per cent in June. The urban wireless tele-density increased from 124.91 per cent to 125.31 per cent, while the rural tele-density fell from 58.90 per cent to 58.82 per cent. In the mobile segment specifically, the national wireless (mobile) tele-density rose from 82.10 per cent to 82.18 per cent. Urban mobile tele-density increased from 124.03 per cent to 124.38 per cent, while rural tele-density saw a drop from 58.58% to 58.48 per cent. As of June 30, 2025, private access service providers held a dominant 92.20 per cent share of the mobile wireless market. The public sector units (PSUs) -- BSNL and MTNL -- accounted for just 7.80 per cent. In terms of regional performance, all service areas except Assam, Mumbai, Punjab, Delhi, and Kolkata showed growth in mobile wireless subscriptions during June 2025. The number of 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) subscribers rose from 7.40 million in May to 7.85 million in June 2025. Of these, 4.73 million were from urban areas and 3.12 million from rural India, reflecting the continued expansion of next-generation wireless internet services. As per the data, as of the end of June 2025, the urban areas accounted for 54.48 per cent of total wireless subscribers while rural areas made up 45.52 per cent. For mobile wireless specifically, as per the data, the urban share stood at 54.44 per cent, and the rural share stood at 45.56 per cent.
Forbes
a day ago
- Business
- Forbes
How Fixed Wireless Access Is Rewriting The Rules For Broadband
Eric Updyke, CEO at Spirent Communications. Did the telecom industry overlook one of the biggest opportunities in 5G? Judging from media buzz, you might think so. Early discussions were dominated by futuristic use cases—network slicing, ultra-low latency and millimeter wave—many of which were still years from deployment. Meanwhile, a quieter revolution was brewing. Many operators were making a strategic bet on something far more immediate and practical: fixed wireless access (FWA). That bet is paying off. FWA has rapidly emerged as one of the most successful use cases for 5G to date. According to the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), there are now more than 200 commercial 5G FWA deployments and growing. In North America, T-Mobile and Verizon have already surpassed their 2025 targets for FWA customers, with T-Mobile now expecting 12 million connections by 2028 and Verizon anticipating 8-9 million in the same timeframe. Ericsson predicts that by 2029, there will be 330 million FWA connections worldwide, generating approximately $75 billion in revenue. How did 5G FWA seemingly come out of nowhere to become this burgeoning industry phenomenon? Let's take a closer look. Fueling Competition On one level, it's not surprising that 5G FWA didn't capture early headlines. After all, it's just internet connectivity, right? Haven't we had broadband for decades? Well, yes and no. If you live in a rural region or developing market—or even if you'd just like more competition on pricing and performance—having a brand-new internet option can be quite compelling. Especially one that delivers performance on par with fiber without the need for last-mile cabling. Suddenly, some of the biggest longstanding broadband challenges—bridging the digital divide, connecting remote locations, spurring investment in developing markets—become far less challenging. Even operators have been surprised by market enthusiasm for FWA. Whether targeting urban cable subscribers or bringing cost-effective broadband to new regions, they're finding customers hungry for new choices. Operators are finding FWA to be an effective lever for the following: In regions where fiber buildouts are cost-prohibitive, FWA enables mobile operators to offer home broadband wherever they have 5G coverage. In many cases, performance has been found to rival traditional wired connections. Our research found that 2024 monthly revenue per user for 5G FWA averaged approximately $46 in the United States, $35 in Western Europe and $70 in the Middle East. And that's just the starting point. Providers are finding a strong appetite for upsell services—like speed boosts, smart home bundles and integrated home-and-mobile packages. FWA offers a lower-cost, faster path to market entry. Operators can assess uptake in a region to inform future fiber expansion plans, using FWA as both a service and a market testing tool. FWA's appeal extends beyond residential customers. At least 20 operators are now actively marketing FWA for business use, particularly targeting small and midsize enterprises in underserved areas. These offerings often come with SLAs and value-added services—like cybersecurity, unified communications and even AI edge hosting—creating a robust connectivity platform tailored for modern business needs. Assuring Quality With FWA adoption surging, attention is now turning to retention, differentiation and customer experience. And in broadband, that means one thing: quality. Speed matters, but it's not enough. End users care about performance for the applications they use every day—streaming, gaming, video calls and more. The FWA environment introduces unique challenges, including: • Airspace contention between FWA and mobile devices on shared spectrum • Interference between 5G signals and in-home Wi-Fi • Traffic imbalances within households, where one heavy user can degrade QoE for others These challenges can't be solved with a one-time fix. They require a comprehensive, lifecycle approach to testing—starting from design and continuing through deployment and operations. Effective strategies include: • Emulation And Simulation: Using digital twins to test networks and services in the lab, uncovering performance issues before live deployment. • Continuous Testing And Automation: Integrating functional and performance testing into CI/CD pipelines, enabling rapid, reliable deployment at scale. • Active Testing In Live Environments: Injecting synthetic test traffic to monitor SLA adherence and flag issues before they impact real users. Make no mistake—FWA introduces a new level of complexity compared to traditional broadband. But it also offers enormous opportunity. As adoption accelerates, operators who recognize this complexity and prioritize service quality will be best positioned to lead. The Most Disruptive Broadband Technology In Years Fixed wireless access is reshaping the broadband market faster than anyone predicted. It's opening doors for operators to expand footprints, compete more effectively and deliver meaningful value to customers—quickly and cost-efficiently. We may not have talked about it much during the early hype cycles of 5G, but FWA is rewriting the rules. It's not just a stopgap or rural solution—it's a transformative force in telecom. And its story is just beginning. Forbes Technology Council is an invitation-only community for world-class CIOs, CTOs and technology executives. Do I qualify?
Time of India
21-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Jio Q1: Brokerages spotlight strong net adds, FWA-led broadband gains; say APRU lift modest
New Delhi: Reliance Jio turned in Q1 report card of robust subscriber addition and 5G user tally with strong traction seen in home broadband segment, though growth in average revenue per user was modest, according to analysts. The big takeaways from the April-June quarter numbers for them were better-than-expected revenue growth, a sharp rise in net adds to about 10 million post-tariff-hike digestion, and 5G users surpassing 210 million. "Overall, healthy results with strong subscriber addition and EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation) expansion, despite flattish ARPUs," UBS said in its report. On 5G, Jio is the largest operator globally in terms of data traffic, UBS said, citing the subscriber base of 210 plus million users. "AirFiber continues to see strong demand and is the largest FWA (Fixed Wireless Access) service globally with 82% market share in India and a subscriber base of 7.4 million," it said. In Q1FY26, Jio added 2.6 million home subscribers (1.8 million using FWA) with fixed broadband base now reaching 20 million (7.4 million from AirFiber), it further pointed out. JP Morgan said that the revenue was up a "stronger-than-expected" 3% sequentially led by 1.2% growth in ARPU, addition of 7.3 million wireless subscribers and 2.6 million fixed subscribers in the quarter. For Jio, Q1 (April-June) was a robust quarter with strong net adds and "modest" ARPU (average revenue per user) growth, it said. Citing Jio's ARPU rise of 1.2% quarter on quarter to ₹209, it observed, the increase was a partial flow-through of tariff hikes that should end this quarter. "Jio has historically taken the longest to show the full impact of tariff increases due to a high proportion of users on 3m/6m/annual plans that have queued multiple periods of plans," JP Morgan note said. Notably, Jefferies has raised its FY25-27 subscriber estimates by up to two% to pick up mobile subscribers as well as higher FWA subscribers. It expects RJio's mobile subscribers to reach 517 million and home broadband subscribers to reach 38 million by Mar-27. "Reliance Jio's 1Q results missed estimates due to lower-than-expected ARPUs and higher depreciation and interest costs. Subscriber additions and margins surprised positively and should support revenue and earnings growth in the coming quarters," the Jefferies report said. Jio Platforms - the entity that houses Reliance Industries' telecom and digital businesses - on Friday reported a net profit of ₹7,110 crore for the June quarter, a nearly 25% rise over the year-ago period, its numbers bolstered by customer adds, improved realisations per user and data traffic growth. Revenue from operations jumped 19% to ₹35,032 crore, driven by strong subscriber momentum across mobility and homes, increased customer engagement and growth in the digital services business, according to the earnings statement by parent Reliance Industries. Quarterly Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation, and Amortization or EBITDA at ₹18,135 crore was up 23.9% year-on-year. Average Revenue Per User - a key vector - increased to ₹208.8 against ₹206.2 in the March quarter and ₹181.7 in the June quarter of FY25. Reliance Jio Infocomm - the telecom unit - posted a 23.2% increase in net profit at ₹6,711 crore in Q1FY26, while revenue from operations grew 16.6% to ₹30,882 crore. PTI
Time of India
18-07-2025
- Business
- Time of India
Reliance Jio Q1FY26 net profit up nearly 25% on year
Mumbai: Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL), which houses Reliance Industries' telecom and digital businesses, posted a nearly 25% year-on-year rise in fiscal first quarter net profit, boosted by continued addition of data users. JPL's consolidated net profit stood at ₹7,110 in the June quarter from ₹5,698 crore a year earlier, and ₹7,022 crore crore in the previous three months, the Mukesh Ambani-owned company said in a statement Friday. 'I am happy to share that Jio has scaled newer heights during the quarter including crossing 200 million 5G subscribers and 20 million home connections. Jio AirFiber is now the largest FWA (fixed wireless access) service provider in the world, with a base of 7.4 million subscribers,' said Mukesh Ambani , chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries, the parent of JPL. During the quarter, Jio reached 20 million connected premises with fixed broadband, up from 17.4 million in the preceding quarter. Its FWA subscriber base touched 7.4 million - the largest number of any global telecom operator. This was driven by its self-developed multi-point UBR technology which enables multiple home connections through a single 5G cell site, bringing down deployment costs. The company also fulfilled its target of 1 million home connections in a quarter - for the first time - during Q1FY26, it said. The telco has set a target of connecting 100 million homes across the country. Jio's average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 1.3% sequentially to ₹208.8 from ₹206.2 in FY4Q25, with the strong addition of FWA users and the residual impact of last July's tariff hikes. Mukesh Ambani-owned Jio reported a 19% on-year growth in revenue from operations at ₹35,032 crore for the just-ended quarter, reflecting continued data usage and ramp-up of 5G-based FWA services. Revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter was ₹33,986 crore. Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom unit under JPL, reported an over 23% on-year growth in net profit for the June quarter at ₹6711 crore, on revenue from operations of ₹30,882, up nearly 17% on year. This compares with revenue of ₹30,354 crore in FYQ425. Jio Infocomm, the country's top telecom operator, comprises the bulk of JPL's operations. During the three-month period, Jio gained 9.9 million users, boosting its overall base to 498.1 million, as the telco continued to gain users mainly from Vodafone Idea and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL). The company had taken the lead in raising tariffs by 12-25% for most of its users with the aim of shoring up ARPU due to the lack of monetisation of 5G services so far where the company has made large investments in buying airwaves and rolling out a pan-India 5G network. It ended the quarter with 212 million 5G subscribers (versus 191 million in January-March). 'Jio continues to create unparalleled technology infrastructure and is extending its leadership in 5G and fixed broadband. This will be pivotal in driving AI adoption in the country,' said Akash Ambani, chairman, Reliance Jio. JPL's FY1Q earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margin expanded to 518% sequentially from 50.1% in the fiscal fourth quarter and 49.7% a year ago. Per capita data consumption grew to 37 GB per month at June end, from 33.6 GB per month at March-end, due to an expansion of Jio's 5G services and increased consumption by fibre-to-home users. Total wireless data consumption rose to 54.7 billion GB from 48.8 billion GB in the preceding quarter, while voice consumption remained flat at 1.49 trillion minutes.
Economic Times
18-07-2025
- Business
- Economic Times
Jio Platforms Q1 profit rises 25% to Rs 7,110 crore as 5G, broadband user base grows
Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL), which houses Reliance Industries' telecom and digital businesses, posted a nearly 25% year-on-year rise in fiscal first quarter net profit, boosted by continued addition of data users. ADVERTISEMENT JPL's consolidated net profit stood at Rs 7,110 in the June quarter, up from Rs 5,698 crore a year earlier, and Rs 7,022 crore crore in the previous three months, the Mukesh Ambani-owned company said in a statement Friday. 'I am happy to share that Jio has scaled newer heights during the quarter including crossing 200 million 5G subscribers and 20 million home connections. Jio AirFiber is now the largest FWA (fixed wireless access) service provider in the world, with a base of 7.4 million subscribers,' said Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director, Reliance Industries, the parent of JPL. During the quarter, Jio reached 20 million connected premises with fixed broadband, up from 17.4 million in the preceding quarter. Its FWA subscriber base touched 7.4 million - the largest number of any global telecom operator. This was driven by its self-developed multi-point UBR technology which enables multiple home connections through a single 5G cell site, bringing down deployment costs. The company also fulfilled its target of 1 million home connections in a quarter - for the first time - during Q1FY26, it said. The telco has set a target of connecting 100 million homes across the average revenue per user (ARPU) rose 1.3% sequentially to Rs 208.8 from Rs 206.2 in FY4Q25, with the strong addition of FWA users and the residual impact of last July's tariff Ambani-owned Jio reported a 19% on-year growth in revenue from operations at Rs 35,032 crore for the just-ended quarter, reflecting continued data usage and ramp-up of 5G-based FWA services. Revenue in the fiscal fourth quarter was Rs 33,986 crore. ADVERTISEMENT Reliance Jio Infocomm, the telecom unit under JPL, reported an over 23% on-year growth in net profit for the June quarter at Rs 6711 crore, on revenue from operations of Rs 30,882, up nearly 17% on year. This compares with revenue of Rs 30,354 crore in Infocomm, the country's top telecom operator, comprises the bulk of JPL's operations. ADVERTISEMENT During the three-month period, Jio gained 9.9 million users, boosting its overall base to 498.1 million, as the telco continued to gain users mainly from Vodafone Idea and state-run Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd. (BSNL).The company had taken the lead in raising tariffs by 12-25% for most of its users with the aim of shoring up ARPU due to the lack of monetisation of 5G services so far where the company has made large investments in buying airwaves and rolling out a pan-India 5G network. ADVERTISEMENT It ended the quarter with 212 million 5G subscribers (versus 191 million in January-March).'Jio continues to create unparalleled technology infrastructure and is extending its leadership in 5G and fixed ADVERTISEMENT broadband. This will be pivotal in driving AI adoption in the country,' said Akash Ambani, chairman, Reliance FY1Q earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) margin expanded to 518% sequentially from 50.1% in the fiscal fourth quarter and 49.7% a year capita data consumption grew to 37 GB per month at June end, from 33.6 GB per month at March-end, due to an expansion of Jio's 5G services and increased consumption by fibre-to-home users. Total wireless data consumption rose to 54.7 billion GB from 48.8 billion GB in the preceding quarter, while voice consumption remained flat at 1.49 trillion minutes. (You can now subscribe to our ETMarkets WhatsApp channel)
