Dell’Oro Group forecast spending on fixed wireless access (FWA) equipment to surpass $40 billion over the next five years, driven in part by long-term subscriber growth across emerging markets in the Southeast Asia and MEA regions.

The company’s preliminary findings indicate total FWA revenue including RAN equipment, residential CPE, and enterprise router and gateway products is on track to have grown 27 per cent year-on-year in 2023 with total spend expected to be $6.6 billion globally.

It explained a surge in FWA services in recent years was due to widespread availability of sub-6GHz 4G and 5G networks, along with the ease of deployments.

Jeff Heynen, VP and analyst, explained while FWA initially gained traction as a means to provide broadband connectivity in rural and underserved markets, enterprises today are relying on compatible “routers and gateways to connect branch offices, vehicles and kiosks as part of their own private wireless initiatives”.

The company stated North America was the most dynamic market in terms of the range of available services, with CBRS and other sub-6GHz options growing alongside 5G NR and 60GHz.

It predicted growth across Southeast Asia and MEA will be spurred by “upgrades to existing 3G and LTE networks and a need to connect subscribers economically”. It also predicts spending on 4G and 5G enterprise routers and gateways will grow to $4 billion.