## 1 Introduction  
There has been an unprecedented increase in the amount of multimedia-based and Internet-enabled mobile devices that have been putting growing bandwidth and latency demands on the access network. Furthermore, the envisaged massive broadband connections and the related traffic require high-bandwidth transmission systems for effective performance. Consequently, to attend to the stringent network demands and the persistent need for swifter access by the users, innovative broadband technologies are required [1, 2, 3, 4].  
Furthermore, note that some of the existing fixed-line broadband technologies can effectively support the network demand. Nevertheless, their deployments to the termination point such as neighborhoods, cabinets, buildings, homes, and premises require trenches to be carved into streets and sidewalks. Moreover, due to the varying soil composition (i.e., rocks and rivers) with the region, network planning and deployment timelines may be challenging if not impossible. Therefore, the implementation is not only relatively inflexible, but also cost-intensive and time-consuming. Besides, the cost implication can be more felt in sparsely populated areas with small-cell networks [5, 6, 7].  
In order to attend to the challenges, there have been significant research efforts on solutions that are capable of delivering broadband services at fiber-like/fiber-grade speeds with low latency, while employing wireless mobile technology instead of the traditional fixed-line or cable technology. One of such promising technologies capable of delivering high-speed wireless internet access/services is the fixed wireless access (FWA) [8; 9]. In addition, the fifth-generation (5G) network is envisaged to support a broad range of heterogeneous services; nonetheless, enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) and FWA services are anticipated to be the initial commercial applications [10; 11]. No wonder that some providers such as Verizon, Starry, AT&T, and C Spire have been developing significant interests in the FWA for their business and service initiatives. Moreover, they have been using a range of technologies and spectrum bands for the target environments [12; 13; 14].  
In essence, mobile network operators (MNOs) and mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) are expected to exploit the 5G technological enhancements in delivering well-improved broadband services. For that reason, 5G FWA is anticipated to be a promising scheme for an enhanced broadband experience. Nevertheless, the 5G network requirements will impose a number of limitations on the transport network. In this tutorial, we present a comprehensive overview of enabling technologies, requirements, prospects, and challenges of broadband solutions. Furthermore, we offer possible solutions for realizing an efficient and scalable 5G FWA. Moreover, a number of transport network solutions that can be utilized for FWA deployment and their associated requirements for different use cases are considered. Moreover, we look at different 3 GPP RAN functional split architectures that can be adopted by the 5G FWA to relax the stringent transport network requirements regarding the system cost, complexity, latency, and bandwidth demand. This helps in understanding the RAN functional split implementations and implications on 5G FWA transport network solutions. The concepts of virtualized RANs (vRANs) with programmable transport network (PTN) for attending flexibly to the dynamic nature of different use cases by exploiting an open PTN interface (PTNI) that supports multi-vendor interoperability and protocol stack (PS) adaptation are also presented. This will enable dynamic split options with efficient load management and real-time performance optimization. Moreover, the architecture can offer on-demand resources provisioning with optimal utilization based on context-aware service delivery using network slicing. We also present and discuss cost-effective architectural variants that offer relatively simplified distributed unit (DU) designs with a low footprint.