Research outfit Omdia predicted global 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) subscriptions to grow from 71 million in 2024 to 150 million by 2030, accounting for 88 per cent of total connections.

It expects 5G FWA subscriptions to record a CAGR of 23 per cent and total service revenue to hit $46 billion by 2030 as premium offerings gain market share.

The research company predicts 5G FWA will surpass 4G FWA by 2027 and overtake DSL as the world’s third-largest broadband technology. It is poised to become the second most-common broadband access technology after 2030.

Omdia chief analyst Nicole McCormick noted Tier-1 operators must “evolve beyond legacy deployment models and embrace segmentation, bundling and AI-driven personalisation to monetise 5G FWA effectively”.

India is forecast to become the largest 5G FWA market by 2030 with 37 million subscriptions and a 40 per cent market share, driven by a rollout by Reliance Jio, and use of digital twin and AI technologies.

Omdia expects the US to account for 20 million subscriptions as operators expand their broadband footprint through diversified FWA offerings.

Nigeria, Italy and Japan are tipped to round out the top five markets.

Omdia cited quality of experience including reliability, latency and user-specific performance as a key differentiator for 5G FWA, especially for gamers, remote workers and video streamers.