From Connectivity to Capability: How 5G FWA is Powering National Digital Transformation

Catalyzing the connected future

In today's digital economy, broadband access is no longer just a utility, but a strategic enabler of national productivity, social inclusion, and economic diversification. For countries across the Middle East and Central Asia (ME&CA) region, the transition from connectivity-as-a-service to connectivity-as-a-platform is underway. Central to this transition is 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) — a relatively under-publicized yet powerful lever that many governments and operators are using to accelerate digital transformation.^{1 2}

Figure 1: 5G FWA global subscription forecast to more than double by 2030 (Source: Telecoms.Com)

Unlike traditional fiber roll-outs, which are capital-intensive, time-consuming, and often constrained by physical infrastructure bottlenecks, 5G FWA offers a more agile path: high-speed broadband delivered over 5G radio networks, often with installation times measured in days rather than weeks or months, and with far fewer trenches and disruptions in suburban, semi-urban, and even rural areas. This agility is a game-changer in markets where government digital agendas, smart city programs, and SME digitalization strategies demand fast results.^{3 4}

Figure 2: Key advantages of fixed wireless access (FWA) (Source: Aircom)

In the ME&CA region, where many governments are pursuing rapid economic diversification (in part to reduce reliance on oil & gas), raise inclusion, advance e-government, education, and health systems, and build new digital industries, 5G FWA has emerged as a catalyst. With FWA, household broadband speeds go up, new digital services become viable, and underserved regions gain access to connectivity that previously would have required expensive fiber infrastructure.

Moreover, as the next generation of 5G-Advanced (5G-A) moves into view, the infrastructure built for 5G FWA becomes the foundation not only for fixed-home broadband, but for enterprise connectivity, private networks, IoT, and cloud-native services that underpin Industry 4.0.

Figure 3: Enterprise FWA (Source: Telco.Com)

In summary: 5G FWA is not just about "more homes connected", but about transforming how citizens engage digitally, how enterprises operate, and how national economies evolve. This article explores this transformation in some of the region's leading and emerging markets: the UAE and Saudi Arabia (in-depth analyses), along with Kuwait, Qatar, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, and Mongolia. It highlights how telecom operators and ICT players are collaborating with government programs, the measurable outcomes achieved so far, and the lessons for countries as they accelerate their digital journeys.

Importance of 5G FWA for national digital agendas

There are three key ways 5G FWA drives national digital transformation.

1. Accelerating broadband access and inclusion

In many markets, last-mile broadband access remains a bottleneck for inclusion of suburban, new town, rural or industrial areas. 5G FWA sidesteps much of the trenching, cabling, and civil works that traditional broadband needs by using 5G mobile and radio networks connected directly and wirelessly to customer premise equipment (CPE). This means broadband services can go live much faster, creating new service opportunities like online education, telehealth, digital enterprise services, and work from home possibilities much sooner than possible with traditional fixed line broadband connections. Industry forecasts predict that FWA connections will exceed 460 million by 2030 and 5G FWA will have a CAGR of 54% between 2022 and 2030.⁵

Figure 4: 5G FWA global update: Connecting the next half billion households (Source: Counter Point Research)

2. Providing a platform for new digital services

Once high-speed access is delivered, the next step is monetizing digital services like education platform bundles, cloud gaming, telemedicine, SME cloud bundles, and smart-home services. Because 5G FWA offers reliability and high throughput (and increasingly low latency), operators can shift from offering "just Internet access" to providing digital experience, leading to higher ARPU and greater value for users.

Figure 5: FWA enables digital services (Source: Telecom TV)

For example, research shows that FWA can increase ARPU by 3–5 times for home broadband when paired with value-added services.⁶

3. Enabling enterprise and industry digitalization at scale

Beyond homes, 5G FWA is a gateway to enterprise connectivity, IoT, private networks, and edge-cloud services. In regions with low fiber density, enterprises can deploy private or hybrid 5G FWA instead of waiting for fiber deployment. This enables automation, remote monitoring, smart logistics, and digital health infrastructure. In short, 5G FWA is the infrastructure for digital industry, not just consumer connectivity. This creates a virtuous cycle: faster and more affordable broadband leads to richer digital services, higher adoption rates, and greater digital participation, ultimately driving economic and social transformation and boosting GDP.

Figure 6: FWA could boost the UK economy to the tune of GBP 4 billion by 2030 (Source: The Role Of Wireless Networks In Enhancing Digital Connectivity In The UK (Sep 2024))

ME&CA FWA landscape: Gaining momentum, capitalizing on opportunities

The ME&CA region is moving fast. Recent industry reports project that in the Middle East & Africa region, 5G subscriptions will rise significantly in the coming years, and FWA will play an increasingly large role. For example, one study estimates FWA subscriptions in the MEA region will grow from 19 million in 2024 to 27 million by 2029, with 5G FWA adoption rising from 11% to 38%. The study suggests that in GCC countries, as many as 93% of FWA connections will be running on 5G by 2029.⁷

The Middle East FWA market size is estimated at US$6.16 billion in 2025 and is expected to reach US$11.66 billion by 2030, at a CAGR of 13.62% during the forecast period (2025–2030).

Figure 7: Middle East FWA market size (2025–2030) (Source: Mordor Intelligence)

These numbers show the scale of this opportunity. For governments, this means broadband inclusion and enterprise digitalization programs can be delivered faster, with lower cost per home or enterprise connected, using 5G FWA as the medium.

However, the region is not uniform. The GCC states typically have high GDP per capita, compact populations, and strong digital programs, making them early adopters. Central Asian markets are more varied, often with larger geographies, dispersed populations, and different investment dynamics, but here too, 5G FWA offers the possibility of leapfrogging older fixed broadband models.

1. United Arab Emirates (UAE)

The UAE is often described as one of the world's fastest-growing 5G countries, and its national digital transformation agenda is ambitious. The combination of strong government policy, operator investment, and an ICT ecosystem makes it a laboratory for how 5G and 5G FWA can support broader digital ambitions.

In the UAE, both operators (Etisalat UAE by e& and du) have made 5G and FWA a key part of their home-broadband strategy. For example, du reported that its FWA segment recorded an 18% YoY increase in 2024 and that 70% of its mobile & FWA traffic now runs over its 5G infrastructure. This demonstrates how consumer broadband via FWA is starting to move meaningfully onto 5G networks.⁸

du's FWA strategy extends beyond current achievements, with the operator aiming to increase its broadband market share to 40% by 2027. This ambitious goal is supported by continued network investments, the introduction of specialized consumer and enterprise products, and next-generation technologies like 5G-A. The operator's hybrid approach combining fiber and FWA solutions mirrors successful strategies employed by global leaders and demonstrates du's understanding of diverse customer needs and market dynamics.

Figure 8: du UAE Ookla Award: Demonstrating winning strategies in 5G FWA globally (Source: Telecom Review)

The UAE case shows how a compact, digitally-minded country can use 5G FWA to raise the baseline of broadband access, support government digital services delivery (education, health, library, remote work), create converged consumer offers, and accelerate digital inclusion. From an operator perspective, the FWA business becomes a growth engine in an otherwise saturating mobile market.⁹

2. Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA)

Under its "Vision 2030" initiative, Saudi Arabia is pursuing significant economic diversification, enhanced digital services for citizens, increased productivity among SMEs, and industrial digitization. In this context, 5G FWA is not just a nice-to-have, but a critical infrastructure that underpins enabling technologies.¹⁰

Saudi Arabia has established a robust platform for delivering mass-market next-generation fixed wireless access. FWA already accounts for around 20% of broadband connections in Saudi Arabia — one of the highest proportions globally — underlining rapid uptake. FWA users experience average download speeds of 43 Mbps, a modest 21% performance gap compared to 54.3 Mbps on wireline (March 2025).¹¹

Figure 9 KSA: Broadband experience on wireline vs FWA (March 2025) (Source: OpenSignal)

A key enabler of this rapid FWA growth has been Saudi Arabia's generous spectrum policy. Following the 2024 spectrum auction, the Communications, Space and Technology Commission (CST) released a total of 1400 MHz of spectrum spanning the sub-6GHz range — the highest allocation among G20 countries. To drive meaningful deployment, the CST imposed strict coverage and Quality of Service (QoS) obligations. This serves as an additional incentive for participating networks to fully utilize their available spectrum bands and has enabled operators to experience a period of rapid growth and revenue diversification.¹²

Figure 10 Zain KSA: 5G FWA at the center of its 5G business strategy (Source: GSMA)

As 5G FWA scales, it supports Saudi Arabia's digital agenda in several dimensions. Firstly, it promotes higher household connectivity, which leads to faster broadband speeds and enables remote work and learning even in less dense or semi-urban areas. Furthermore, by making broadband simpler and quicker to deploy, it is encouraging SMEs and enterprises to migrate to new technologies like cloud computing, software as a service (SaaS), and digital workflows.

3. Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan was one of the first countries in the Central Asia Region to launch 5G. In 2023, Kazakhstan officially entered the 5G era, with Tele2 becoming the first operator to commercially launch 5G services, followed by Kcell.¹³

Fixed broadband in Kazakhstan is relatively mature in urban areas, with widespread fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) availability. However, semi-urban and rural regions remained underserved due to geographical constraints like mountainous terrain and the high cost of fiber rollout in sparsely populated areas. This presented an ideal opportunity for 5G FWA to act as a complementary broadband solution for bridging coverage gaps and delivering high-speed Internet where fiber is unavailable.

The "Digital Kazakhstan" program explicitly aims to eliminate the digital divide between urban and rural areas, with 5G FWA identified as a key technology to achieve this goal.¹⁴

Digital Kazakhstan provides a much-needed boost to the ICT and telecom sectors:

Figure 11: The government has launched the "Digital Kazakhstan" program aimed at improving the country's digital infrastructure. (Source: E-government Kazakhstan)

It is in this context that Tele2 launched its FWA offerings. Tele2's 5G FWA initiative was aimed primarily at households in underserved areas, particularly where legacy copper networks or weak mobile coverage impacted quality of service. These users were typically price-sensitive but increasingly demanding in terms of speed and digital services, including streaming, remote work, and e-learning.

The 5G FWA initiative by Tele2 is a collaborative success. It has delivered substantial achievements across market leadership, customer adoption, network expansion planning, and digital capability enablement. A major focus was placed on the user experience of trying immersive services, particularly in high-footfall locations. Dedicated 5G demo areas were created to allow potential customers to see, touch, and experience the FWA product. Visual storytelling, interactive displays, and trained specialists helped bridge the awareness gap and boost confidence.

Tele2's 5G snowboarding demo:

Figure 12: Visitors can enjoy high-speed 5G Internet on the Shymbulak Mountain Resort grounds, and the action can be followed live on YouTube via 5G Internet from Tele2 Kazakhstan. (Source: Tele2 Kazakhstan)

As 5G networks expand and mature, FWA is poised to become a crucial solution for extending reliable and high-speed broadband to homes across Kazakhstan, especially in regions where laying physical cables is not feasible.

4. Uzbekistan

In 2023, Uzbekistan implemented its "Uzbekistan 2030 Strategy", focusing on a national development roadmap with the goal of transforming the country into an upper-middle-income and economically and technologically developed nation.¹⁵

A key component of this is the "Digital Uzbekistan 2030" strategy, which among other things, actively promotes the use of FWA to expand broadband Internet connectivity. To achieve this goal, telecom operators need to provide the Internet to all settlements in Uzbekistan and increase access speeds tenfold. The coverage of optical fiber lines and broadband access needs to increase to 100%.¹⁶

Figure 13: The priority directions of the "Digital Uzbekistan 2030" strategy (Source: Daryo.Uz)

FWA is proving vital to achieving these goals. In Uzbekistan, more than half of the population lives in villages and remote areas. At the same time, the country's terrain is mostly flat, which allows signals from base stations to be freely distributed over long distances. As a result, the demand for 5G FWA services is growing.¹⁷

Key takeaways for governments and telcos for FWA planning & roll-outs

From the examples of these countries, several lessons emerge for nations and telecom operators aiming to deploy 5G FWA as part of their digital transformation programs.

1. Align with national digital strategies

Countries where FWA is aligned with national digital strategies (such as the UAE and Saudi Arabia, where 5G FWA is integrated into national digital agendas) have witnessed rapid and sustainable adoption. This is because national alignment ensures regulatory support, spectrum provisioning, and overall infrastructure planning support. As more and more telecom operators align with their respective national digital agendas, FWA will see even greater momentum in the region.

2. Start implementations first within the high ROI zones

From an implementation perspective, to begin with, telcos must focus their FWA efforts on suburban and new areas, SME clusters, or green-field developments where fiber is not available and will take long to deploy. This will enable early wins and measurable improvements and motivate the telcos to continue onwards on the FWA path.

3. Plan ahead for enterprise adoption and 5G-A

While consumer FWA is already scaling, the next wave will be enterprise, industry verticals, and private networks (such as 5G-A, network slicing, and edge cloud). The infrastructure built today for consumer FWA will become tomorrow's enterprise platform. Operators must consider upcoming needs such as slicing, automation, and industry-specific solutions as part of their future roll-out and expansion plans.

Conclusion

In the Middle East and Central Asia region, digital transformation is not a future vision — it's happening now. The interplay of government ambition (broadband goals, digital services, enterprise focus, etc.), operator investment (5G network roll-out, FWA offerings, bundling of digital services, etc.), and technology enablers (cloud ecosystems, partnerships, etc.) is creating a sea change in how connectivity translates into productivity, inclusion, and economic value.

5G FWA has emerged as a pivotal enabler in this journey. It offers speed, deployment agility and cost-effectiveness in markets where fiber roll-out alone cannot meet the pace of demand or the need for inclusion.

Ultimately, the telcos, governments, and ICT partners that succeed will be those that treat connectivity not just as pipes, but as platforms — platforms for digital inclusion, productivity, social impact, and economic diversification. In a region where the pace of change is accelerating and the stakes are high, 5G FWA is proving to be one of the most effective catalysts of national digital transformation.