Taiwanese chipmaker MediaTek is reportedly exploring the potential of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) in India.
The company aims to work with partners to reduce the cost of FWA consumer premises equipment (CPE), such as routers. The Managing Director of MediaTek India, Anku Jain, emphasized the opportunity to provide broadband connectivity to rural areas that lack fiber connectivity. Jain also shared the importance of cooperation to solve the cost issue and turn 5G FWA into a reality.
Though Jain did not provide specific details, MediaTek is known to work with telecom operators and could potentially partner with Indian telcos on 5G FWA business.
5G fixed broadband is seen as a key use case for the monetization of fifth-generation mobile networks. However, the cost of FWA CPE remains a significant challenge.
Airtel CEO Gopal Vittal recently stated that the economics of FWA are still not attractive due to the high cost of the equipment.
Meanwhile, MediaTek’s rival Qualcomm has partnered with Reliance Jio for its 5G FWA solution, Jio AirFiber.
MediaTek also noted that the prices of 5G smartphones are among the hurdles that will decrease as volumes increase. The company claimed to see an opportunity in the Internet of Things (IoT) with the deployment of 5G networks, especially in relation to Industry 4.0 use cases.
