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T-Mobile exec says its fixed wireless service currently reaches tens of millions of U.S. homes
As fixed wireless access (FWA) adoption accelerates and fiber expansion intensifies across the United States, broadband operators are navigating a complex balance of economics, network capacity and evolving customer expectations. According to T-Mobile US Executive Vice President and Chief Broadband Officer Alan Samson, success increasingly depends on deploying multiple technologies rather than relying on a single access model.
Speaking on Unmuted, Samson said T-Mobile sees strong demand across its broadband portfolio and is approaching growth through a complementary mix of fixed wireless and fiber.
“For us, it’s not a one-technology solution,” Samson said. “It’s making sure we go to market with both the fixed wireless and the fiber, giving us a speed to market and coverage advantage with the fixed wireless as we follow up with a build-out on the fiber side.”
T-Mobile’s fixed wireless service currently reaches tens of millions of U.S. homes, and the company operates using what Samson described as a “fallow-capacity” model — allocating unused spectrum capacity after forecasting mobile demand on a sector-by-sector basis. The approach, he said, has countered early skepticism that FWA growth would degrade network performance.
“In the last two years, our fixed wireless base has grown by over 80%,” Samson noted, adding that customer usage has increased roughly 30% while performance metrics have improved significantly. “Even though we continue to grow at a great pace, every year the experience we’re delivering is better than the year before.”
The company also limits subscriptions in areas where network capacity reaches its threshold, preventing oversubscription and protecting customer experience — a key operational lesson as T-Mobile competes directly with cable and fiber incumbents.
Rather than focusing solely on speed and promotional pricing, Samson said T-Mobile designed its broadband offering around longstanding customer frustrations, including hidden fees, installation delays, and unpredictable price increases.
“At the end of the day, we need to bring a product to market at a price that customers are willing to pay. And when the economics of fiber or fixed wireless sort of push you past that point, well, then you’ve got to look for a different answer. Oftentimes, fixed wireless is an answer where maybe a fiber build is just too costly,” Samson said.
He added that technology choices ultimately come down to maintaining long-term value rather than maximizing short-term returns. “We really do make the economically rational decision, not so much that we can maximize the profits for T-Mobile — but we certainly are a for-profit company — but we want to make sure we can guarantee that value to the customer,” he said. “If I sell my product to you today at $40 or $50, I want to be able to honor that price three or four years down the road. And that requires that you do the smart work in your business case and your build costs to be able to enable that value to be an ongoing value to the end user.”
While rising infrastructure, equipment, and energy costs remain industry-wide challenges, Samson argued that fixed wireless offers inherent economic advantages because it leverages existing network investments rather than requiring entirely new builds. Fiber deployments, meanwhile, rely more heavily on partnerships and disciplined capital planning.
Beyond rising costs, Samson identified local permitting processes as one of the most underappreciated risks to sustained broadband growth, particularly for fiber deployments that require coordination across hundreds of municipalities. “Every state, every municipality having a different set of guidelines… is just gonna naturally slow down the fiber build out,” he said.
Despite those challenges, Samson expressed optimism about the broader market outlook. With demand rising and technology options expanding, he said the U.S. broadband environment remains “primed for growth” — provided operators and policymakers maintain flexibility in how connectivity is delivered.
