T-Mobile US consumer group president Jon Freier threw down a gauntlet to rivals over competition in the fixed wireless access (FWA) broadband market, as the operator moved to make the service available to thousands of prepaid customers.

Subscribers to the operator’s Metro by T-Mobile prepaid service gained access to its 5G Home product yesterday (10 March), a move Freier pitched as challenging the entire broadband industry by boosting service availability.

Freier argued reliable home broadband is now a “necessity” rather than a luxury.

The service costs $50 per month with the hardware required priced at $99.

T-Mobile has been a frontrunner among US mobile operators when it comes to deploying FWA, with 646,000 subscribers at end-2021.

It is targeting between 7 million and 8 million FWA subscribers by end-2025.

The FWA service currently covers more than 30 million homes, with the operator last month expanding access across 62 cities.