[September 04, 2008]

Infonetics Research: Ericsson, Nokia Siemens widen RAN market lead; mobile softswitch market up 33%

(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) CAMPBELL, CA, September 4 / MARKET WIRE/ --

Communications market research firm Infonetics Research reports that
worldwide sales of radio
access network (RAN) equipment inched up a percent to $10.2 billion in
2Q08, after market leaders Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks each
increased their worldwide revenue by 5%, reinforcing their strong #1 and #2
leadership positions (respectively).

Infonetics' report, Mobile
Network Infrastructure Equipment and Subscribers, shows that the slight
sequential increase in worldwide RAN equipment revenue was primarily driven
by strong GSM deployments in India, China, and Africa, and by W-CDMA
deployments in North America. By contrast, the North American CDMA market
slumped in 2Q08, down 40% sequentially.

Meanwhile, the mobile softswitching segment jumped 33% in 2Q08 to $1.4
billion, led by huge quarterly sales increases for soft mobile switching
centers (soft MSCs) and wireless media gateways, propelled by a spike in
China Mobile deployments.

"The bright spots in the mobile network equipment market continue to be the
mobile packet core and mobile softswitching segments, driven by service
provider migration to IP-based architectures. Soft MSCs, which provide call
control, signaling, and intelligence for mobile networks, are particularly
hot, with worldwide licenses expected to more than double between 2007 and
2011," said St?phane
T?ral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure at Infonetics.

Other highlights from the report:

-- The strong GSM market helped propel Huawei past Nortel for the #4 spot
in worldwide RAN equipment revenue market share in 2Q08; Alcatel-Lucent
maintains its #3 position
-- The number of worldwide mobile subscribers hit 3.3 billion in 2007 and
will grow to 5.2 billion by 2011
-- More than 1/2 of all new mobile subscribers will hail from Asia
Pacific by 2009
-- Sales of home location registers (HLRs) (centralized databases that
store mobile subscriber information and profiles) are down 1% sequentially,
but up 23% year-over-year, driven by network upgrades and new network
deployments

Infonetics' quarterly report
provides market size, market share, and forecasts for mobile network
infrastructure equipment by technology (GSM, W-CDMA, CDMA/CDMA2000,
microcells, picocells), including RAN, mobile switching subsystem, mobile
core network, and HLR equipment. The report also tracks mobile subscribers
by technology (GSM, W-CDMA, CDMA, CDMA2000).

Companies tracked include Alcatel-Lucent, Apertio, Cisco, Ericsson, HP,
Huawei, Motorola, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Samsung, Starent,
UTStarcom, ZTE, and others.

For report highlights, log in
to Infonetics' online portal from www.infonetics.com (see Wireless and FMC
area). For sales, contact Larry Howard, vice president, at
larry@infonetics.com or +1 (408) 583-3335.

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market
research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since
1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established
technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan,
strategize, and compete more effectively.

Image Available: http://www2.marketwire.com/mw/frame_mw?attachid=828631

Press Contact:
St?phane T?ral
Principal Analyst, Service Provider VoIP, IMS, and Mobile Infrastructure
Infonetics Research
(408) 583-3371Email Contact

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