The global mobile backhaul equipment market grew 8% to $7.4 billion in 2011, following a 10% increase the previous year, according to a new report from Infonetics Research. Infonetics forecasts a cumulative $39 billion will be spent on mobile backhaul equipment over the 5 years from 2012 to 2016.
“The nice bump up in the mobile backhaul market in 2011 was due in large part to a surge in Ethernet mobile backhaul router purchases in China,�? explains Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics Research. "We expect the China surge to subside in 2012, impacting the overall market; then slow, steady growth in this already-large market should resume in 2013."
Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave at Infonetics, adds: “Roughly 55% of the world’s mobile backhaul physical connections are on microwave, and more than half of all mobile backhaul equipment revenue in 2011 came from dual TDM/Ethernet microwave and packet-only microwave equipment combined.
Some other items from the report:
- Ericsson maintained its lead in the mobile backhaul microwave radio market with 22% of global revenue in 2011; meanwhile, Huawei took the lead in quarterly revenue for the first time in 4Q11
- Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, Huawei, Tellabs, and ZTE lead the fast-growing Ethernet mobile backhaul routers and gateways segment
- IP/Ethernet equipment makes up more than 90% of all mobile backhaul equipment spending, driven by operators looking to lower mobile data traffic costs, accommodate the 3G mobile broadband data transition, and move to IP as the basic technology of LTE (and WiMAX)
- About 150 mobile operators are actively deploying IP/Ethernet backhaul, up from 100 in 2010 and 25 in 2009.
