Telecom Lead Asia: The Chinese wireless test equipment
reached $264.8 million in 2011.
Main growth drivers are mobile data traffic and the
application of mobile Internet. TD-LTE offers more bandwidth and ensures more
efficient data transfer, which spurs the demand for wireless test equipment.
Frost & Sullivan estimates the test market to reach
$771.3 million in 2018. Its research focuses on base station test equipment,
mobile device test equipment, drive test equipment, mobile backhaul test
equipment, and wireless core test equipment.
“The main factors pushing demand for wireless test
equipment are the growth of 3G deployment, the increase of wireless data, and
TD-LTE development. Meanwhile, the investments of mobile service providers are
also expected to spur market demand,” said Frost & Sullivan Research
Analyst Wei Wei.
During 2011-2015, China will accelerate the development
of 4G by conducting large-scale experiments of its own TD-LTE technology and
putting it into commercial use, if possible.
Due to the move toward the TD-LTE/4G standard, the market
is expected to witness medium growth during the forecast period. Budgetary
issues and decreased capital spending are likely to restrain the demand for
wireless test equipment.
The growth of wireless test equipment depends on service
providers’ CAPEX. In China, operators’ CAPEX plan varies with seasons. Though
major investment will be in 3G, operators will make investments for optimizing
a 2G/2.5G network.
Test equipment vendors are upgrading their product
line-up and delivering product performance and customized solutions, as well as
making constant investments in research and development (R&D). This is
aimed at helping them obtain sufficient capacity to handle exploding data
traffic, meet the new 4G standard, and enjoy higher growth than their competitors.
Test equipment vendors are developing MIMO technology
which uses multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver. MIMO
technology offers significant increases in data throughput and link range
without additional bandwidth, therefore it can greatly improve communication
performance.