Reliance Jio is poised to overtake T-Mobile as the world’s largest fixed wireless access (FWA) provider by subscriber base, ICICI Securities said in a research note.
As of May 2025, Jio’s FWA subscribers (excluding UBR) stood at 5.9 million, with a net addition of 0.74 million in the month alone, after adjusting for UBR reclassification. Including UBR subscribers, Jio’s FWA base rose to an impressive 6.88 million, ICICI Securities analysts Sanjesh Jain, Mohit Mishra and Aparajita Chakraborty said.
Growth of Jio’s FWA subscriber-base in India surpasses T-Mobile’s reported 6.85 million FWA subscribers as of March 2025, positioning Jio to officially become the global leader in FWA by the end of June 2025.
Jio’s growth trajectory is further validated by the Ericsson Mobility Report (June 2025 edition), which highlighted an eight-fold jump in its 5G FWA connections — from March 2024 to March 2025 — reaching 5.6 million. This aligns with Jio’s vision of connecting 100 million homes in India through its 5G-based fixed wireless offerings.
Jio, the number one telecom operator in India, does not reveal its investment in FWA network. T-Mobile is aiming to make an investment of around $9.5 billion towards its capital expenditure (Capex) in 2025.
India’s broadband expansion further supports Jio’s scale. The country’s wired broadband (including FWA) base rose by an average of 1.8 million subscribers per month from December 2024 to May 2025, reaching 51.5 million — up 24.6 percent year-on-year, according to data from Indian telecom regulator TRAI.
Reliance Jio alone added 0.66 million subscribers monthly, pushing its total to 19.4 million. Its market share jumped to 37.6 percent in May 2025, up from 33.9 percent in November 2024, well ahead of Bharti Airtel (21 percent) and BSNL (8.4 percent).
While Airtel’s FWA user base also grew by 0.18 million in May 2025 to reach 1.5 million subscribers, it remains far behind Jio, though it continues to scale operations to capitalize on India’s growing fixed broadband demand.
According to TRAI data, India had 6.77 million wireless 5G FWA subscribers as of March 2025, with 63 percent in urban areas and 37 percent in rural regions — showing Jio’s reach across geographic segments.
With rapid monthly additions, aggressive 5G rollout, and a dominant market share, Reliance Jio is on track to redefine the global FWA landscape, marking India’s emergence as a force in next-gen broadband connectivity.
Global FWA market
The global fixed broadband market is expected to grow from 1.6 billion to 2 billion connections by 2030, driven by 550 million new connections across fiber, fixed wireless access (FWA), and satellite. A significant portion of this growth will come from the modernization of legacy infrastructure, with about 150 million DSL and cable connections expected to decline as consumers shift to faster technologies.
FWA is projected to play a major role, accounting for over 35 percent of the new connections. FWA subscriptions are forecast to more than double, reaching 350 million by 2030, Ericsson Mobility Report said recently.
In Q1 2025, major U.S. broadband providers — AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Comcast, Charter, and Altice — reported their 11th straight quarter where fixed wireless access (FWA) drove nearly all broadband net additions. AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile alone added 913,000 new FWA connections, raising the total number of 5G FWA connections in the U.S. to 12.5 million, underscoring FWA’s growing importance in the broadband market in the United States.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
