Licensed 5G fixed-wireless access (FWA) is poised to become the preferred last-mile connectivity solution for South African small and medium enterprises (SMEs), replacing traditional fibre connections.
Darren Morgan, chief operating officer at Comsol, emphasises the importance of a stable connection for many SMEs and home offices, noting that in the past many businesses believed their choices were limited to fibre or mobile connections. However, 5G FWA is emerging as a robust alternative.
Traditionally, SMEs relied on FWA in areas where fibre was unavailable. However, with the introduction of 5G FWA, and the decreasing reliability of fibre, a growing number of SMEs are transitioning to 5G for reliability and stability.
Morgan says while fibre is essential for delivering capacity to base stations, it is not necessary to run fibre connections from base stations to individual offices. This role can be effectively filled by 5G FWA.
“5G FWA offers hundreds of megabits per second, with latencies comparable to fibre. In fact, it has been found to be faster and more reliable in the last mile. Fibre’s vulnerability to being dug up during construction as well as roadworks and utilities maintenance such as water and electricity repairs make FWA a safer choice. Additionally, licensed 5G FWA is cheaper and faster to deploy than fibre, requiring no digging,” says Morgan. “There’s really no reason for someone to choose a fibre hand-off over an FWA hand-off,” Morgan says.
Businesses using LTE as a primary or failover connection often experience issues due to network contention on consumer-focused networks. Morgan says 5G FWA offers a significantly better experience, providing more capacity and lower latency. Even with the same capacity — say, a 50Mbit/s LTE line versus a 50Mbit/s 5G line — the 5G connection delivers superior stability and performance.
Business-class solution
Comsol has launched a new licensed 5G FWA service to meet the demand for a cost-effective, business-class last-mile solution for SMEs. This service offers less contention than consumer offerings and reliable, enterprise-grade power infrastructure, ensuring redundancy even during load shedding. Comsol’s licensed 5G FWA delivers enhanced speed, low latency and superior reliability, providing a robust alternative to traditional last-mile fibre. The service is uncapped and available in 25Mbit/s, 50Mbit/s and 100Mbit/s options, with an attractive fair-use policy.
Switching from fibre to 5G FWA is seamless, utilising compact, outdoor CPE routers, with no significant changes required for the customer. This allows businesses to easily scale their capacity and upgrade their services as needed.
“Our customers are increasingly moving to 5G FWA due to its rapid deployment, ease of installation, operational savings and adaptability to business growth. It provides the flexibility and resilience needed for businesses to thrive in today’s digital landscape,” says Morgan.
About Comsol
Comsol is a leading South African telecommunications company, specialising in providing fixed-wireless connectivity coupled with private network solutions for businesses. With over two decades of experience in the industry, Comsol is committed to delivering unparalleled service excellence and reliability to its customers. The company’s state-of-the-art infrastructure is supported by its 28GHz and 3.7GHz spectrum assets, ensuring that clients receive solutions they need to drive their business forward. For more information about Comsol and its services, visit www.comsol.co.za.
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