Fixed broadband access is the part of a telecom network that brings internet to a fixed place, such as a home, a shop or an office, instead of to a phone that moves. It covers the operator's local exchange, the cables or radio links in the street, and the box where the connection enters the building. Engineers often call this stretch the last mile.
In India, there are three main ways to reach a building.
The most common way in cities today is fibre. A fibre runs from equipment in the local exchange to a small box in the street, called a splitter. The splitter divides the light, with no electricity, among 32 or 64 homes. This design is called a passive optical network (PON). It is the network behind most fibre broadband plans.
The second way uses no cable at all. A small receiver on the roof or a window picks up a radio signal from a nearby tower, often over 5G. This is fixed wireless access (FWA). It is quick to set up, because no one has to lay fibre to the door.
The third way is the local cable TV wire. Some local cable operators in India also sell internet over the same coaxial cable that carries TV channels. This is cable broadband.
Say a dentist in Indore is choosing broadband for a new clinic. If the clinic's building already has fibre, she chooses a fibre plan, and a technician connects the clinic to the splitter. If the street has no fibre yet, she chooses FWA, and the technician fixes a receiver above the clinic's window.
Whichever way is used, the connection ends in a home gateway, the box on the wall that also runs the Wi-Fi. Behind the exchange, the traffic joins the operator's optical transport network.