T-Mobile said it added 523,000 fixed wireless access customers in the first quarter, silencing speculation, at least for now, among some analysts that growth of that new residential broadband business is already being undermined by capacity constraints.
T-Mobile, which added 338,000 FWA subs in Q1 last year, now has a base of 3.2 million FWA customers.
Further, the wireless company said it is expanding coverage in its 5G network to reach an additional 25 million consumers and wants to reach a total of 300 million U.S. wireless customers by the end of 2023.
It also wants to increase its midband 5G spectrum from a current level of 150MHz to 200MHz by the New Year's Day.
T-Mobile on Thursday additionally reiterated its commitment to providing enough capacity to support 8 million FWA subscriptions by 2025.
T-Mobile Home Internet slowed its roll just a bit sequentially late last year, adding 524,000 customers in the fourth quarter vs. 578,000 in Q3. Since the technology relies on excess network capacity beyond what is allocated for mobile customers, and is only available in places in T-Mobile's footprint where excess capacity actually exists, at least one equity analysts wondered if the slight slowdown was a sign that T-Mobile FWA was running out of room.
Last week, the nation's other major FWA provider, Verizon, announced the addition of a quarterly record 393,000 fixed wireless customers in Q1, upping its base to 1.847 million users.
So, in a span of about two years, low-priced FWA home internet has infiltrated 5 million American homes.
Comcast, which saw its broadband expansion trickle to 5 million users in Q1, has noticed, based on its latest ad campaign.
