T-Mobile and Verizon collectively added 893,000 fixed wireless access users in the second quarter, culminating in an installed base of 5.938 million subscribers, nearly double the FWA base of 2.244 million customers from a year prior.
According to the quarterly tally conducted by Leichtman Research Group, which accounts for the largest ISPs serving 96% of the U.S. residential broadband market, Verizon and T-Mobile FWA now control 5.2% of the country's home internet market.
Also read: T-Mobile Adds 509K FWA Customers in Q2, Closes in on 4 Million
That's a nifty trick, considering that both wireless companies launched their FWA services just in 2021.
FWA's fast emergence has come as cable ISPs have seen growth grind to a halt.
Also read: Verizon Adds Another 384K FWA Subscribers in Q2
Market leader Comcast lost 19,000 residential broadband subs in Q2 and has only added around 142,000 customers over the last 12 months. During the pandemic, Comcast sometimes added that many high-speed users in a good week.
In all, the U.S. home broadband market grew by 840,000 customers in Q2, and FWA accounted for all of that expansion.
As more consumers adopt these lower-priced 5G FWA services, the technology's well-documented capacity issues will certainly come into play. But these limitations haven't seemed to limit growth yet.
