5G has changed the calculus for how broadband is delivered, and now the speed and quality of wireless broadband is competing successfully against traditional fixed services. Tier 1 operators are adding tens of thousands of new FWA customers each month, and operators of all sizes are exploring this new and agile service with a rapid time-to-revenue. It’s an exciting opportunity to launch new services or new service levels, as well as to rethink traditional approaches to installation and service by drawing on automation and guided self-service apps.
As those FWA customer bases grow, however, network management capabilities have to grow as well – or risk a less-than-stellar quality of service imperiling new customer relationships. It’s no small task to stay ahead of the capacity and management needs of a rapidly growing customer base in a wireless network, where shifting congestion points, signal attenuation and daily traffic ebbs and flows can all impact customer experience. So how do you manage a wireless network when you want it to behave, as much as possible, as reliably and consistently as a wired network? With network intelligence, flexibility and automation, on a single, open platform that supports a complete, multi-vendor FWA roll-out.
Remote configuration and device management for FWA is crucial, as soon as operators get beyond a few initial CPE deployed. So you have to plan for growth with an upgradeable platform that can evolve along with your FWA service and enable both rapid initial deployment as well as support end-to-end service level assurance during expansion. This is a chance to expand your use of remote provisioning, remote firmware upgrades and remote reboots to smooth day-to-day operations. What new perceptions do you need to ensure the success of your FWA services? How about remote speed tests and the ability to detect service degradations and have a CPE automatically shift its connection to a neighboring cell from a preferred list? Launching FWA also means an opening to rethink how network performance perceptions can inform the installation process—such as with the ability to tap into network-level information and feed it to your customer’s self-installation mobile app to provide them with intelligent guidance on optimal CPE placement.
Capitalizing on 5G FWA means getting to market quickly with a reliable service and delivering the right Quality of Service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE) for your customers. But it also means being able to keep those data-hungry customers in the long run – which calls for smarter software solutions that cover all your bases now, and evolve as quickly as your network does.
