According to a survey by the Global mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), the global shipments of 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) consumer premises equipment (CPE) are set to double in 2022 on the back of growth registered in 2021.
As per the survey, 5G FWA CPE shipments more than doubled to 3.6 million in 2021, a year-on-year increase of over 162 per cent. FWA CPE shipments are forecast to double again to 7.6 million, accounting for more than 25 per cent of all shipments by the vendors surveyed. The strong uptake of 5G FWA devices is expected to continue, with vendors signalling their intention to bring more 5G products to market.
The study also reveals that while 5G FWA devices doubled in 2021, 84 per cent of shipments in 2021 remained long-term evolution (LTE)-only, according to the FWA CPE vendors surveyed. Out of all 5G shipments, 160,000 were mmWave-based devices, an increase from 130,000 in 2020. However, 88 per cent of respondents indicated that they have, or plan to introduce, 5G mmWave products in the next few years.
Further, the majority of respondents are expecting no or minor component shortages in 2023, at the same time most are expecting inflationary pressures to persist.
