Verizon has made it clear that 5G fixed wireless is a big part of its future and an announcement today reinforces that stance. Verizon 5G Business Internet fixed wireless service is expanding to 21 additional markets.
The fixed wireless service targets both the SMB and enterprise segments with three tiers of internet access ranging from 100 Mbps to 400 Mbps. Prices start at $69/month for the 100 Mbps tier and top off at $199/month for the 400 Mbps service.
Verizon is offering a 10 year price guarantee at those levels and is clearly gunning for the cable industry, which has had growing success with the SMB market. The service does not have data caps and no long-term contracts are required.
“5G Business Internet, an alternative to cable, leverages Verizon’s 5G Ultra Wideband technology as the connectivity backbone to run your entire business, from point of sales systems to employee productivity devices, with professional installation included,” a press release notes.
The new Verizon 5G Business fixed wireless markets include parts of: Anaheim, Atlanta, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Indianapolis, Kansas City (MO), Las Vegas, Miami, Minneapolis, Phoenix, Sacramento, Salt Lake City, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, St. Louis, and St. Paul, with parts of Riverside-Corona, CA.
This brings the service availability to parts of 24 markets. It was previously available in parts of Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles. Verizon 5G Business fixed wireless relies primarily on Verizon’s mmWave 5G spectrum, also referred to as Verizon Ultra Wideband, meaning its range is relatively short.
Verizon Ultra Wideband coverage tends to be concentrated in high density urban cores, so the addressable market for business customers within range is probably pretty decent. Verizon is extending this fixed wireless offer to 4G LTE as well, though, which expands its availability, according to today’s press release.
“As 5G Business Internet scales into new cities, businesses of all sizes can gain access to the superfast speeds, low latency and next-gen applications enabled by 5G Ultra Wideband, with no throttling or data limits,” said Tami Erwin, CEO of Verizon Business in the press release. “We’ll continue to expand the 5G Business Internet footprint and bring the competitive pricing, capability, and flexibility of our full suite of products and services to more and more businesses all over the country.”
Like its residential focused cousin, Verizon 5G Business Internet fixed wireless should see dramatic expansion, in part due to Verizon’s recent C-band spectrum auction win. At a recent analyst event, Verizon executives announced an expansion of addressable homes for fixed wireless to 50 million, up from 30 million.
That residential expansion will also mean an expansion to reach businesses with 5G fixed wireless, as today’s announcement demonstrates. At the same analyst event, Erwin noted the business flavor of 5G fixed wireless would reach 20 markets by the end of the year.
