Mobile wireless solutions provider Inseego — a long-time partner on T-Mobile US Internet of Things device management (Deutsche Telekomwatch#75 and #101) — highlighted how T-Mobile’s May 2022 launch of new 5G data plans for businesses is “proving to be a significant catalyst for enterprise adoption” of 5G-based fixed-wireless access (FWA) services.
Ashish Sharma, Chief Executive and President of Inseego, noted that Inseego’s Wavemaker FX2000 5G indoor router has been available for T-Mobile for Business customers since November 2021. Speaking during the supplier’s recent earnings call, Sharma highlighted that activity levels among T-Mobile’s business customers have recently increased “dramatically“.
“Also, we’ve had Fortune 500 retail customers convert from pilots into full-scale deployments. Moving forward, we expect our pipeline to continue to grow with improved sell-through as T-Mobile sales teams reach more end customers. This will result in significant restocking of the FX2000 with T-Mobile over the balance of the year. “
Sharma.
He also noted that Inseego jointly sells its “entire 5G FWA portfolio alongside [the] T-Mobile sales force”, adding that “we’ve sold our product to over 400 distinct new customers since the launch“.
The Inseego Wavemaker device is a customer premises solution for enterprises providing dual-band WiFi 6 for up to 30 Wi-Fi– enabled devices simultaneously. The router, aimed at home office employees and small- and medium-size businesses, was flagged to deliver peak 5G speeds of more than 1Gbps, along with falling back to cat 20 LTE, withenterprise-grade security“. At the time, Inseego said the new contract with T-Mobile would support the NatCo’s aim of signing up “seven to eight million” FWA subscribers by 2025. The NatCo released the Inseego 5G MiFi M2000 as its first 5G hotspot device in December 2020.
In addition, Sharma flagged the launch of MiFi X PROwhich he described as the third generation of Inseego’s 5G mobile hotspot and the supplier’stenth-generation MiFi since inception”, adding that a tier-one carrier in North America will be the first customer to roll out this product in Q3“.
On an FWA roll
T-Mobile launched its home broadband service, 5G Home Internetin April 2021 and extended the FWA-based offering to business customers the following month (Deutsche Telekomwatch, #102 and #104). The NatCo recently reported that it gained 560,000 FWA subscribers in the three-month period to 30 June 2022 (Q2 FY22), taking the total to 1.5 million by the end of the quarter. The 5G Home Internet service currently passes more than 40 million homes.
T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert described FWA as a “Terrific front door” for the operator that isdriving new relationships“. The NatCo has previously indicated that it expects seven to eight million FWA customers by 2025.
In May 2022, the operator then launched new “nationwide” business internet plans aimed at connecting remote office and retail locations in areas where the network does not have the capacity to support unlimited 5G FWA services. Business customers in those areas can choose plans with data caps of 100GB or 300GB for $50 (£41/€49) or $70 per month, respectively. If a user exceeds the caps, connection speeds are throttled down to 600Kbps, or more high-speed data can be added at $2 per gigabyte.
The NatCo also now plans to offer a somewhat similar service to consumers from 16 August, called 5G Home Internet Lite. In theory, the move could open up the home FWA service to the 320 million people covered by the operator’s extended range (600MHz) 5G network as it aims to bring broadband services to anywhere covered by a T-Mobile mobile service. According to CNETdata caps of 100GB, 150GB, 200GB, and 300GB will be introduced for the Lite service, after which connection speeds would be reduced to 128Kbps.
Notably, T-Mobile has just agreed to pay $3.5bn for additional 600MHz spectrum licenses covering about 108 million points of presence across the United States. Speaking at the Oppenheimer Technology, Internet & Communications Conference on 9 August, the operator’s Chief Financial Officer Peter Osvaldik said the licenses are being acquired from Columbia Capital and represent a spectrum portfolio “that we have been leasing at a very small rate of dollars and the lease was coming up“. Each license ranges from 10MHz–30MHz, depending on the market. The NatCo’s filing with the Securities and Exchange Committee named the sellers as Channel 51 License Co LLC and LB License Co.
A T-Mobile spokesperson told TelcoTitans that “for homes that aren’t yet eligible for our unlimited Home Internet service, we’ll offer Home Internet Lite, a plan with a data bucket that starts at $50/month for 100GB“.
Our unlimited service will continue to be our flagship plan, but in areas where we can’t offer unlimited Home Internet, Home Internet Lite lets us say ‘yes’ to more people. For the one in four broadband users who use less than 100GB/month and for those in rural or underserved areas, stuck with satellite or DSL — or no option at all — this plan offers a reliable, often more affordable option. “
T-Mobile spokesperson.
Kaley Gagnon, Vice-President of Marketing at the operator, told CNET that the NatCo has turned downthousands of requests every single month because we don’t yet have the capacity to serve every address with our unlimited option“.
Other vendors in the mix
In conjunction with the launch of ‘nationwide’ business broadband services in May 2022, T-Mobile and Ericsson-owned Cradlepoint announced a new 5G router that would be custom-designed for the operator’s business internet customers. In June, the NatCo also unveiled its first operator-branded 5G hotspot, which is manufactured by Quanta Computer. Meanwhile, T-Mobile’s 5G gateways are supplied by Taiwan-based Arcadyan alongside Nokia.