Philippine telco Dito Telecommunity has launched a 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) service featuring a home Wi-Fi service powered by 5G RedCap technology.
The new service – branded “Dito Home WOWFi” – was developed in partnership with Huawei Technologies and officially launched by Dito on Friday. In a press statement released on Monday, Dito said the service leverages its 5G standalone (SA) network and enables speeds of up to 100 Mbps for home users.
Dito is offering Dito Home WOWFi as a prepaid service, which means no documents required, no monthly fees, and no lock-in period or long-term contracts. The service’s starter kit package – priced at PHP1,990 (US$34.40) – includes complimentary unlimited 5G data and 50GB of 4G data for 30 days.
RedCap (Reduced Capability) is an enhancement of 3GPP Release 17 that enables less complex, low-power devices to use 5G NR networks. Similar to NB-IoT for LTE, RedCap makes it feasible for devices such as wearables and industrial sensors to connect via 5G.
While most RedCap use cases and trials around the world have focused on industrial applications, it can also be used for 5G FWA CPE terminals, which consume less power than older-generation 5G FWA CPEs.
While Dito claims it’s the first operator in the world to launch a 5G RedCap FWA home service, STC Kuwait technically beat them to it, having launched what it said was the first 5G RedCap FWA service in the Middle East in March 2024, also in partnership with Huawei. STC Kuwait said the service would be offered to “both residential and commercial clientele”.
That said, Dito can still claim to be ahead of the 5G RedCap FWA curve, as RedCap only works with 5G SA networks, which are the exception rather than the rule for most 5G deployments which use the non-standalone (NSA) version.
Consequently, fixes wireless CPEs that support 5G RedCap are also rare, although perhaps not for long. According to a survey of 30 vendors from the GSA 4G/5G FWA Forum last month, 63% of respondents said that they will introduce a 5G RedCap CPE before the end of this year.
5G FWA revival?
In any case, Dito’s 5G RedCap FWA service has the potential to revive 5G FWA as a home broadband option in the Philippines. First launched in the Philippines in 2019, 5G FWA offerings managed to attract an estimated 4.3 million users by 2022 according to Ookla, but has since lost ground to fibre broadband, thanks to aggressive rollouts and the fact that fibre still offered better speed and performance than 5G FWA.
That said, according to a recent report from Opensignal, advances in 5G technology have significantly enhanced FWA performance, which is enabling FWA providers like Dito and rival Smart Communications to compete more effectively with fibre and satellite options in terms of both price and easier, cheaper deployment.
"In reality, the current internet options of Filipino households are quite limiting,” said Evelyn Jimenez, chief revenue officer for Dito’s consumer business. “You can get fast and unlimited Wi-Fi, but it won't be cheap. You can get fast and affordable but not unlimited, and you can get affordable and unlimited, but it won't be fast. This is the reality we live in."
Jimenez said Dito aims to shake up the market by offering a “fast, unlimited, and affordable” home broadband service.
While Dito says the Dito Home WOWFi service supports speeds up to 100 Mbps, a separate Opensignal report in August 2024 said that Dito’s average download speed for its FWA service is 42 Mbps, although that’s considerably faster than Smart (16.6 Mbps) and Globe Telecom (7.5 Mbps).
Earlier this month, Dito celebrated reaching 13 million subscribers as of October, while CEO Eric Alberto said the operator will achieve profitability within a few years.
