D.C. Memo: Verizon to Target MDUs with 1 Gig Speeds on FWA Network
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FWA: Verizon – buoyed by hitting 4 million fixed wireless access (FWA) subscribers 15 months early – set new FWA goals yesterday while announcing third quarter results before a live audience of Wall Street analysts. The new plan calls for reaching 8 milllion to 9 million FWA customers total by 2028 while expanding the reach of the FWA network from 60 million homes and businesses covered today to 90 million by 2028. Verizon EVP & President of Global Networks and Technology Joe Russo said the company would expand its FWA footprint via "aggressive deployment of C band and millimeter wave that we call ultra wideband (UWB)." He added that the company has a “new [multiple dwelling unit] MDU solution that's been in trial [and that] we'll be rolling out in 2025 to serve MDUs with up to 1 Gi Internet service with millimeter wave technology.” One Wall Street analyst said the MDU strategy was promising. "We believe the next 4-5M FWA subscribers will have a significantly higher percentage of MDU customers (likely >20%)," said Raymond James analyst Frank Louthan in a client memo yesterday. Verizon's fixed wireless revenue for the third quarter was $562 million, up $215 million year over year. Verizon added 363,000 FWA subscribers in the third quarter, down from 378,000 in the previous quarter. In September, T-Mobile set a new FWA forward subscriber benchmark of 12 million by the end of 2028, up from its previous target of 7.5 million in 2025. In June, New Street Research estimated the top four U.S. wireless operators could support as many as 16 million FWA subscribers in total before running out of capacity. Based on Verizon's and T-Mobile's new FWA guidance, the two wireless carriers will greatly exceed NSR's estimated capacity ceiling. Bullish FWA news from Verizon did not help the company on Wall Street as share closed down 5%. Comcast and Charter -- who are expected to report record broadband subscriber losses next week -- saw their shares move higher in an otherwise down day for the all three major indexes.