GSA survey reveals double-digit FWA shipment growth in 2026, driven by 5G

Exclusive survey by GSA FWA Forum of CPE vendors also reveals how emerging markets are now supporting wider FWA market growth

The GSA FWA Forum today released the findings of its annual Fixed Wireless Access CPE market survey, revealing that FWA CPE vendors expect to report double digit shipment growth by the end of 2026. 5G devices are forecast to account for almost 70% of FWA CPE shipments globally, up from 60% of reported shipments in 2025. Of these 5G-enabled FWA devices, shipments of 5G Standalone-capable equipment is expected to grow 34% in 2026, representing 97% of units.

Globally, while North America still represents the largest share of reported 3GPP-based FWA CPE shipments at 28%, emerging markets are playing an increasingly important role in the pace of FWA deployment and adoption. Detailed shipments for Africa are presented for the first time in this year’s FWA CPE Vendor Survey Report, and now represent 21% of total FWA CPE volumes in 2025. However, the difference between regions is more marked when it comes to specifically 5G FWA shipments, with Africa accounting for 14% and North America dominating with 45%.

The survey of FWA CPE vendors also reveals how macro-economic conditions related to AI demand for memory chips is affecting the FWA CPE market. 93% of vendors responded being affected by inflationary/memory chip price increases, with 67% affirming that component/inflationary pressures in 2026 will impact final prices by more than 10%. While these inflationary pressures are currently significant, 47% of respondents expect them to dissipate during 2027 and just 27% expecting the challenges to last into 2028 and beyond.

“5G FWA is clearly proven globally as a technology to offer fast, economically attractive and future-proof broadband services, particularly in rural and less densely populated areas,” said John Yazlle, chairman of the GSA FWA Forum. “In markets such as North America and India, 5G FWA is capturing a large share of the high speed broadband market, meanwhile markets such as Africa are at the starting phase of that growth cycle. The results from this year’s survey are really encouraging not just for the health of the FWA device ecosystem, but for what they mean for mobile operators’ ability to monetise their 5G spectrum and network investments. As operators increasingly deploy 5G Standalone (SA) networks, the device ecosystem and installed base of FWA devices stands ready to benefit from the performance and capabilities of 5G SA.”

Key findings of the 2026 Fixed Wireless Access CPE Market Survey include:

1. 2026 shipments are expected to grow 16% to reach 23 million units. Reported 2025 total FWA CPE shipments were 20 million, a 16% increase compared to 2024.
2. 5G-enabled FWA shipments are now the majority of the market sample, reaching 12 million units in 2025. Shipments are expected to grow to 16 million in 2026, accounting for 69% of total FWA device shipments compared with 60% in 2025.
3. North America accounted for the largest share of reported 2025 shipments at 28%, followed by Africa at 21%. India and North America lead the share of 5G-capable FWA CPE shipments at 99% and 97% respectively.
4. The majority of FWA CPE shipments in 2025 were integrated indoor CPE (57% of shipments), followed by outdoor CPE (25%) and battery-operated hotspots (18%). In 2026, integrated indoor CPE is expected to strengthen further, reaching 64% of shipments. 46% of the outdoor CPE shipments in 2025 were flexible self-install indoor/outdoor CPEs.
5. FWA supporting 5G standalone (SA) adoption stood at 96% of 5G FWA shipments in 2025 and are expected to grow 34% to 15.4 million in 2026 compared to 11.5 million in 2025.
6. 5G RedCap FWA shipments are expected to grow nearly fourfold in 2026 to around 821 thousand units, representing approximately 5% of 5G FWA device shipments.
7. mmWave-capable 5G FWA CPE shipments reached around ~350 thousand units in 2025 and are expected to increase slightly to around 400 thousand units in 2026, representing about 3% of 5G shipments.
8. The majority of vendors believe that AI capabilities in 5G FWA CPE will improve the performance and experience of Wi-Fi and in-home connectivity and 5G
9. Over half of respondents either already have or plan to launch 5G FWA devices with 8RX support in 2026, while 53% have or plan to launch 5G RedCap devices during the year.
10. Price parity expectations have moved further out, with 53% expecting it to be reached in the coming 3 years compared to 82% in last years’ survey.

A free executive summary of the survey report is available to download from the GSA website here: https://gsacom.com/paper/fwa-cpe-market-survey-2026/. The GSA research team and FWA Forum will also discuss the findings of the survey in a free-to-attend webinar, open to all industry stakeholders, on 29th September 2026. You can register to attend the online event here: https://gsacom.com/webinar/fwa-cpe-survey-2026/

“GSA working groups are central to our activities and research, supporting industry advocacy, championing technology deployment best practices, and unlocking exclusive research and data,” said Joe Barrett, President of GSA. “From this annual FWA CPE survey to private mobile networks deployment data gathered in confidence from GSA working group members, GSA research is able to provide expert-validated insight into industry trends and the true status of the market underpinning them. This is why GSA is the trusted data partner for regulators, operators, analysts and vendors from across the mobile ecosystem.”

The GSA FWA Forum was established in late 2020 and the annual GSA FWA CPE market survey was first conducted in 2021. This report presents the findings of the 2026 survey, where data was collected from April to July 2026. A total of 15 vendors of customer-premises equipment (CPE) from the GSA FWA Forum answered the survey. The results present the aggregate answers of those 15 CPE vendors, that together form a statistically valid representation of the 3GPP-based FWA device market. Participants in the 2026 edition survey included: Askey, BEC Technologies, Changhong, Megatower/Da Ta Technologies, Gemtek, GreenPacket, Huawei, Jaton Technology, Shenzhen Jointelli, Netcomm, Tozed Kangwei, Vantiva, WNC, YaoJin Technology, Xiamen/Four-Faith Communication Technology.

The full report, including additional analysis of questions asked and supporting MS Excel tables, is exclusively available to GSA Members and Associates, and GSA FWA Forum members as part of their annual subscription.

Companies wishing to join the GSA FWA Forum, please contact Joe Barrett at membership@gsacom.com. This is the sixth-edition GSA FWA Forum device ecosystem survey and the next iteration of this survey will be undertaken in 2027.