As urban broadband demand accelerates, wireless ISPs are facing a growing challenge: how to quickly expand network capacity across dense metropolitan areas without adding operational complexity at the same pace. Fiber remains an important piece of the puzzle, but dense-city expansion can be slowed by the associated permitting, building access, construction costs, and fragmented infrastructure. For many service providers, such as Brazil’s MLS Wireless [insert link to case study], high-capacity wireless backhaul using mmWave connectivity and E-band wireless offers a practical way to densify networks, reach more buildings, and support fiber-like performance where fiber deployment is difficult, slow, or costly.
And the broader market is reflecting this shift. According to Research Nester, the global mobile and wireless backhaul market was valued at $20.4 billion in 2025 and is projected to reach $65.3 billion by 2035, growing at an estimated 11% CAGR.
For many ISPs, the challenge is no longer simply adding capacity to meet increasing demand. It’s figuring out how to add capacity in a way that keeps deployment, operations, and network management sustainable and costs controlled.
That’s why more wireless-first ISPs are turning to high-capacity mmWave and E-band wireless architectures — not just to improve throughput, but to accelerate deployment and simplify large-scale broadband growth. Siklu by Ceragon mmWave solutions are an excellent option, operating across license-exempt 60 GHz V-band and lightly licensed 70/80 GHz E-band spectrum, supporting both point-to-point and point-to-multipoint deployment models for urban, suburban, and enterprise connectivity.
What You’ll Learn:
• Urban Broadband Growth Is Creating A New Scaling Problem
• How MLS Wireless Scaled Capacity Without Adding Complexity
• What This Means for ISPs and Wireless ISPs
• See The MLS Wireless Deployment
• Key Takeaways
Urban Broadband Growth Is Creating A New Scaling Problem
MLS Wireless’ latest network expansion story highlights a growing reality for wireless ISPs worldwide: scaling broadband capacity in dense urban environments is no longer just about adding more bandwidth. It is about doing this without creating unsustainable operational complexity.
Case in point: as demand surged across Rio de Janeiro’s dense residential and commercial areas, MLS Wireless faced mounting pressure to expand capacity, support remote points of presence (PoPs) more efficiently, improve service stability, and continue scaling its wireless-first broadband network without increasing operational burden.
Traditional fiber expansion models are often difficult to scale in fragmented urban environments. Fiber is critical to broadband infrastructure, but extending fiber to every building, rooftop, or remote PoP can be costly, slow-to-deploy, and often, impossible due to permitting or the existence of historical/protected sites. Speaking of costly, in 2025, Cartesian reported that typical underground fiber deployment cosst $18 per foot, while typical aerial deployment cost $8 per foot. In 2023, we found similar costs when looking at typical fiber deployment costs in the U.S., ranging from $60,000 to $80,000 per mile, a conservative estimate. Our blog, The True Costs of Fiber in the U.S., goes into more detail on those findings.
For WISPs and fixed wireless access providers, this is a network design problem as much as it is a construction problem. Access networks must move capacity closer to subscribers, while transport and backhaul networks must carry that additional traffic from rooftops, buildings, and remote PoPs back into the core without multiplying site count, truck rolls, and management overhead.
How MLS Wireless Scaled Capacity Without Adding Complexity
To address its urban broadband growth challenges, MLS adopted Ceragon’s high-capacity MultiHaul™ TG mmWave solution to support scalable wireless densification across its Rio de Janeiro network.
MultiHaul™ TG operates in the license-exempt 60 GHz V-band and supports point-to-multipoint mesh-cascading, including 90° and 360° distribution node coverage options. The MultiHaul™ TG portfolio includes terminal units rated for 1 Gbps over 240–270 meters and high-capacity terminal units rated for 1.9 Gbps over 240–700 meters, depending on the model.
This solution helped MLS Wireless to increase capacity, improve weather resilience, accelerate deployment, and support more buildings per PoP while maintaining operational simplicity.
This is the core operational takeaway for WISPs and ISPs: network growth should not require complexity to grow at that same rate. With the right high-capacity wireless backhaul architecture, operators can expand broadband coverage, support more subscribers, and densify urban networks without relying on major infrastructure rebuilds for every expansion phase.
mmWave and E-band links are especially relevant where operators need short-to-medium-range, high-capacity connectivity in dense areas. The 60 GHz V-band is commonly used for license-exempt urban point-to-multipoint and mesh deployments, while 70/80 GHz E-band is commonly used for lightly licensed or license-free, high-capacity point-to-point backhaul and fiber extension. Siklu by Ceragon’s mmWave portfolio is built around these deployment models, combining PtP and PtMP options for fixed wireless access, enterprise links, small cell backhaul, public Wi-Fi, and dense metro growth.
What This Means for ISPs and Wireless ISPs
Urban broadband demand will continue to rise, and dense metropolitan networks will require more capacity closer to subscribers. The operators that scale most effectively will treat capacity, deployment speed, reliability, and operational simplicity as interconnected requirements.
For many wireless-first broadband providers, mmWave connectivity and E-band are becoming practical tools for high-capacity wireless backhaul where fiber is delayed, unavailable, or too costly. According to Research Nester, the FWA segment of the mobile and wireless backhaul market is projected to grow at a 13% CAGR through 2035, reflecting the role of fixed wireless access in last-mile broadband expansion and faster deployment where wired infrastructure is constrained.
MLS Wireless’ expansion in Rio de Janeiro shows how this approach can help operators grow capacity, support more buildings, and simplify network expansion across dense urban environments.
The business implication is straightforward: urban ISPs and WISPs do not need to choose between capacity growth and operational control. With a dense wireless architecture that uses mmWave and E-band where they fit best, operators can extend fiber reach, aggregate more buildings per PoP, and scale broadband service without rebuilding the physical network every time demand increases.
See The MLS Wireless Deployment
See how MLS Wireless expanded broadband capacity across Rio de Janeiro while simplifying operations and preparing its network for future growth.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
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Scaling urban broadband is becoming as much an operational challenge as a capacity
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mmWave connectivity is helping WISPs accelerate deployment and simplify network expansion challenge
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Wireless densification enables operators to support more buildings and subscribers without major infrastructure rebuilds
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Operational simplicity is becoming a strategic advantage for growing broadband networks
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High-capacity wireless architectures can deliver fiber-like performance in environments where fiber expansion is difficult or costly
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