June 23, 2008
Ericsson Takes the Lead in RAN Equipment Revenue Market Share
By Michelle Robart, TMCnet Editor
According to a recent report conducted by communications market research firm, Infonetics Research (News - Alert), global sales of radio access network (RAN) equipment have seen a 14 percent decrease sequentially to $10.1 billion in the first quarter of 2008.
Infonetics' report, “Mobile Network Infrastructure Equipment and Subscribers”, reveals that although worldwide RAN equipment revenue was down in 1Q due to seasonality, it is now up 3 percent from the same quarter a year ago (1Q07). Infonetics stated that this increase is primarily due to strong GSM deployments in India and China, and sustained network upgrades in North America.
"Soft mobile switching centers (MSCs) and packet core are and will continue to be the two bright spots of the mobile infrastructure market. Service providers continue to deploy packet tandem architecture and seek opex reductions through IP
transport, key drivers for these fast growing markets," said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure at Infonetics.
transport, key drivers for these fast growing markets," said Stephane Teral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure at Infonetics. Other highlights from the report include:
- Despite a tough quarter, Ericsson (News - Alert) increased its lead in overall RAN equipment revenue market share with close to a third of the worldwide market.
- Nokia Siemens, Alcatel-Lucent, and Nortel (News - Alert) hold the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th positions in worldwide RAN revenue share, respectively.
- Sales of soft mobile switching centers (MSCs), which provide call control, signaling, and intelligence for mobile networks, will grow in the double digits annually through 2011.
- Worldwide revenue from W-CDMA microcells is up 5 percent in 1Q08.
- Sales of home location registers (HLRs) (centralized databases that store mobile subscriber information and profiles) are down 3 percent sequentially, but up 30 percent year-over-year, driven by network upgrades and new network deployments.
- Strong RAN equipment activity in the Asia Pacific region helped increase its share of the worldwide RAN market to 41 percent in 1Q08; Europe/Middle East/Africa (EMEA) accounts for 28 percent, CALA 16 percent, North America 15 percent.
Infonetics' report tracks HLR equipment; RAN equipment, including base transceiver stations (GSM, W-CDMA, CDMA/CDMA2000, microcells, picocells) and base station controllers (GSM, W-CDMA, CDMA/CDMA2000); mobile core network equipment (GPRS core network equipment and packet data serving nodes), and mobile switching subsystem equipment, including MSCs split by technology and soft MSCs. The report also tracks mobile subscribers (2G/2.5G GSM, 3G W-CDMA, 2G/2.5G CDMA, and 3G CDMA2000).
core network equipment and packet data serving nodes), and mobile switching subsystem equipment, including MSCs split by technology and soft MSCs. The report also tracks mobile subscribers (2G/2.5G GSM, 3G W-CDMA, 2G/2.5G CDMA, and 3G CDMA2000). Forecasts for all regions are updated quarterly. Companies tracked include Alcatel-Lucent, Apertio, Cisco (News - Alert), Ericsson, HP, Huawei, LG Electronics, Motorola, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, Samsung, Starent, UTStarcom, ZTE, and others.
As an international communications market research firm, Infonetics Research has been tracking emerging markets since 1990. Infonetics covers a broad range of service provider, product manufacturer, and enterprise and SMB markets, including network security, enterprise voice, unified communications, broadband networks, IPTV (News - Alert), IP video, mobile TV, optical networks, metro Ethernet, carrier routing and switching, wireless, mobile network infrastructure, FMC, VoIP, IMS, policy management, subscriber management, service management, carrier capex and opex, and more.
, policy management, subscriber management, service management, carrier capex and opex, and more. Services include quarterly market share and forecasting, end-user survey research, service provider survey research, service provider capex analysis, and custom research and consulting.
Michelle Robart is a Contributing Editor at TMCnet. To read more of her articles please visit her columnist page.
