It was a brutal first quarter for the mobile infrastructure market, according to Infonetics Research, an international consultancy and market-research firm operating in the communications industry. That said, there is also a lot of optimism about new developments.

 

This finding is evident from its first-quarter 2G/3G Mobile Infrastructure and Subscribers forecast and market share report.

 

Stéphane Téral, the company's principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure, said that the mobile infrastructure market had a brutal first quarter to start off 2010. All segments were down - more specifically, there was an absence of 3G rollouts in China, a worldwide pause in GSM modernization and upgrade drives, and a persistent weakness in the African and Latin American markets.

 

However, said Téral, there was a bright side to the industry's performance, as 3G upgrades in Western Europe and North America continued apace. W-CDMA and CDMA 2000 radio-access network equipment revenues are down sequentially, but still up compared to the first quarter of 2009.

 

In addition, Téral said, 3G W-CDMA developments have begun, and the company expects to see an increase in the RAN equipment market. Significant activity in the packet core segment and a remote radio head ramp-up as a precursor to LTE (News - Alert) are expected as well. Lastly, said Téral, GSM investments are expected to resume, likely in 2011 or so.

 

Other highlights of the report included the fact that all 2G and 3G mobile-infrastructure market segments-including home location register, radio access network and mobile switching subsystem - saw a dip in combined revenue, which plummeted 19.5 percent to $8.8 billion. The GSM equipment segment took a further plunge in the first quarter, down 47 percent compared to 2009, despite signs of stabilization in the fourth quarter of 2009. High points include the fact that the W-CDMA equipment segment is up 25 percent year-over-year from the first quarter of 2009 to the first quarter of 2010; Cisco now joins Ericsson (News - Alert) and Nokia Siemens Networks as a key contender in the mobile packet core segment after the integration of Starent Networks; and Alcatel-Lucent has returned to the vendor front for the market as a whole.

 

Infonetics (News - Alert) Research's Mobile Infrastructure Report offers both regional and worldwide market share, analysis and forecasts for mobile packet core network equipment (GPRS gateway support nodes, packet data serving nodes, serving GPRS support nodes); mobile switching subsystem equipment (soft MSCs, mobile switching center, wireless media gateways); RAN equipment (base station controllers, remote radio head, and macrocell, microcell and picocell base-transceiver stations); mobile subscribers; and HLR equipment.

 

The Report tracks companies such as Nokia (News - Alert) Siemens, GENBAND, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and more; and also tracks most equipment and subscribers by technology such as GSM, TD-SCDMA, W-CDMA, cdmaOne, and CDMA2000.