Verizon preps FWA product for MDUs as consumer sub growth slowsVerizon preps FWA product for MDUs as consumer sub growth slows

Verizon is seeing strong subscriber growth among businesses choosing fixed wireless access while residential subscriber growth continues to moderate. The company plans to launch a solution for multi-dwelling units in the coming months.

Jeff Baumgartner, Senior Editor

January 24, 2025

3 Min Read
Verizon retail store in New York City
(Source: Verizon)

Verizon's consumer fixed wireless access (FWA) business showed more signs of slowing in Q4 2024 even as enterprise FWA subscriptions picked up steam. The company's overall FWA business could get a shot in the arm when it launches a product targeted to apartments and other types of multiple-dwelling units (MDUs) later this year.

Verizon tacked on another 373,000 FWA customers in Q4, extending its grand total to 4.56 million, and beating analyst expectations of 349,000 new subscribers.

Verizon_FWA_chart_through_q4_2024.jpg

Broken down by segment, Verizon added 216,000 residential FWA customers in the quarter, down 6.5% year-over-year, for a total of 2.71 million. The operator added 157,000 business FWA customers, up 9%, for a total of 1.85 million.

Verizon noted that it's seeing a concentration of FWA gross subscriber additions coming from suburban and rural customers that tie into some of its newer C-band markets.

"Verizon’s fourth quarter FWA results continue a trend of skewing more towards Business than Residential, where net additions continue to moderate," MoffettNathanson analyst Craig Moffett explained in a research note (registration required). "This slowing growth in residential FWA is a riddle given that Verizon is significantly expanding its FWA footprint as they complete their C-Band rollout."

New FWA opportunities

Verizon's new MDU solution, one of its capital spending priorities for this year, will launch in the "next few months," the company said in its prepared remarks.

"Business customers are getting more comfortable using [FWA] as a primary option for connectivity," Kyle Malady, EVP and CEO of Verizon Business, said on Friday's earnings call.

Malady also pointed to Verizon's new deal with Brightspeed to use Verizon's FWA platform to "catch" copper customers as an emerging opportunity for Verizon's fixed wireless business.

"I think this is a new area of the market that we can tap," Malady said. "We call this copper catch. It's using our fixed wireless access network to help people who have old copper lines out there … and modernize it with FWA. We see this as a great place where we can sell into, too." 

Verizon, which is on track to have 8 million to 9 million FWA subs by 2028, saw FWA revenues jump 51.6% to $611 million in Q3. Verizon's FWA business exceeded $2.1 billion of revenues for full 2024.

"It will be a great year again for fixed wireless access," Verizon Chairman and CEO Hans Vestberg predicted.

Fiber and FWA growth far outpaces DSL losses

Sticking with broadband, Verizon added 47,000 Fios Internet customers, ending the quarter with 7.13 million. Those adds slowed slightly from year-ago additions of 53,000, but even so, Verizon is adding home wireline broadband customers while its cable competitors struggle to return to broadband subscriber growth.

With DSL losses of 12,000 included, Verizon still added 35,000 consumer wireline broadband subs in Q4, raising that total to 7.3 million. When FWA is added to the mix, Verizon added 251,000 consumer broadband subs in the quarter, down 7% from adds of 270,000 in the year-ago period, for a total of 10.01 million.

Losses at Verizon's consumer Fios video held steady: The operator lost 60,000 video subs, improved slightly from a year-ago loss of 62,000, lowering its total to 2.68 million.

Fiber buildout accelerates

Verizon reiterated a plan to bring Fios to an additional 650,000 locations in 2025, outpacing its recent annual output of about 500,000 Fios locations. That annual pace is expected to rise to about 1 million after Verizon closes its proposed acquisition of Frontier Communications in early 2026.

New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin said he believes Verizon's pace is too slow, noting that it would take until the late 2030s to reach 35 million to 40 million passings at the current rate.

"We suspect the Company is holding back on the build so that the Company can return to the top end of their leverage target range in 2027. This will allow them to start share repurchases," Chaplin explained in a research note (login required).  

Chaplin also believes Verizon should be going after more fiber M&A, viewing Lumen's Mass Markets business as "the most valuable target."

About the Author

Jeff Baumgartner

Senior Editor, Light Reading

Jeff Baumgartner is a Senior Editor for Light Reading and is responsible for the day-to-day news coverage and analysis of the cable and video sectors. Follow him on X and LinkedIn.

Baumgartner also served as Site Editor for Light Reading Cable from 2007-2013. In between his two stints at Light Reading, he led tech coverage for Multichannel News and was a regular contributor to Broadcasting + Cable. Baumgartner was named to the 2018 class of the Cable TV Pioneers.

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