The global macrocell mobile backhaul equipment market is expected to reach over $8.5 billion in 2014 from $8.4 billion in 2013, said Infonetics Research.
The main drivers for the growth in macrocell mobile backhaul equipment market include demand for capacity increases to support LTE deployment and 3G network expansion.
“There will be few greenfield macro base station deployments and this, combined with increasing pressure on equipment pricing, inhibits revenue growth in the long term,” said Richard Webb, directing analyst for mobile backhaul and small cells at Infonetics Research.
Infonetics Research said microwave is anticipated to comprise 48 percent of mobile backhaul equipment spending in 2014 and trend downward slightly by 2018, in favor of wired solutions, predominantly fiber-based.
The ongoing HSPA/HSPA+ onslaught across the 3GPP world and growing LTE deployments are fueling Ethernet macrocell backhaul spending, especially microwave and Ethernet over fiber.
IP edge router revenue is expected to increase in 2014 and continue to grow through 2018, generating a 2013–2018 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 2.4 percent.
Infonetics said there will be a cumulative $45 billion spending on macrocell mobile backhaul equipment worldwide over the 5 years from 2014 to 2018.
Baburajan K
editor@telecomlead.com