Quantifying the Impact of 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) on Traditional FTTH Markets: Performance metrics, latency constraints, and deployment economics

The paper investigates the growing competition between 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) and Fiber-to-the-Home (FTTH) broadband technologies in modern telecommunications markets. While FTTH has traditionally been regarded as the gold standard for high-capacity broadband delivery, recent advancements in 5G, particularly in millimeter wave (mmWave) and mid-band spectrum have enabled FWA to provide competitive broadband services with significantly reduced deployment costs and faster rollout times.

This study quantitatively evaluates the comparative performance of 5G FWA and FTTH across several dimensions including throughput, latency, reliability, scalability, and economic feasibility. Using network performance benchmarks, latency analysis, and cost-per-subscriber modeling, the research assesses how FWA alters traditional broadband deployment strategies and influences market competition.

The results show that while FTTH remains superior in deterministic latency and long-term capacity scalability, 5G FWA offers compelling advantages in deployment speed, rural accessibility, and capital expenditure efficiency. The findings provide insights for telecom operators, infrastructure investors, and policymakers seeking to balance broadband expansion with cost-effective infrastructure planning.