Market Research firm ABI Research predicts that global FWA CPE shipments will reach 47 million units per year by 2026, with 5G FWA CPE accounting for the majority of shipments in the same year.
Counterpoint noted last year that the price of 5G CPE in many parts of the world is still above $500, "far above the level of the mass market." But the firm predicts 5G CPE prices will "reach mainstream levels by mid-2023 and mass market levels by the end of 2024." Counterpoint also expects average selling prices to decline rapidly after 2025 as 5G technology is deployed and matures at scale, driving adoption even in lower-income (average revenue per user) markets such as India and Africa that face a large digital divide.
In fact, the profitability of telecom operators' FWA services is affected by the choice of CPE, which determines venue coverage costs and network costs as well as revenue drivers.
Speed of deployment is a key differentiator for FWA services, and the choice of CPE also affects this parameter. Indoor CPE can often lead to faster service landing times because indoor CPE does not require operators to provide on-site installation. And, indoor CPE tends to cost less than outdoor CPE because it uses cheaper antenna components. Outdoor CPE is more spectral efficient than indoor CPE, enabling two to three times as many FWA connections per site. As a result, the unit CPE network cost of outdoor CPE is two to three times lower than that of indoor CPE. Some operators have mitigated the disadvantages of indoor CPE by adding external antennas, including upgrading them at a later stage for high-end users and cell edge users.
Comments