T-Mobile more than quadrupled its fixed wireless access (FWA) subscriber base over the last year, according to financial analysts at SVB MoffettNathanson. In a research note about T-Mobile FWA subscribers, the analysts delved into demographics for the service and traffic data.
The latter is important because T-Mobile’s FWA service uses the same network as the company’s more lucrative mobile service.
As MoffettNathanson noted in a similar report last year, T-Mobile only offers FWA in areas where it believes it has sufficient capacity available to support the service. And according to this year’s report, that hasn’t changed.
Using data from Opensignal, the analysts determined that 96% of the areas where T-Mobile currently offers service have low or limited congestion.
T-Mobile FWA Subscribers
T-Mobile FWA growth undoubtedly has resulted, in part, from expanded availability of its service, known as T-Mobile Home Internet. According to MoffettNathanson, the company had service available to 30 million homes a year ago but now has service available to 50 million homes.
The demographics of the areas where service is available haven’t changed much, though. Currently, the mix is 70.3% urban, 22.9% suburban and 6.8% rural. All those percentages are virtually unchanged from last year, according to OpenSignal.
The subscriber mix continues to skew more rural, however, just as it did a year ago. More than 20% (21.3%) of subscribers are rural, compared with 24% that are suburban and 55.3% that are urban.
According to OpenSignal, those percentages were about the same as last year, although it’s worth noting that MoffettNathanson’s report from last year found a higher percentage of rural subscribers. That report used data from Comlinkdata, rather than OpenSignal.
T-Mobile Home Internet is likely more popular in rural areas because there are fewer competitive choices in those areas, in comparison with more urban areas.
It’s worth noting that some people have questioned whether T-Mobile FWA service is available everywhere that the company says it is available.
As there are fewer alternative providers in more remote places, T-Mobile Home Internet is perhaps more popular there than in more populous areas.