Driven by the thriving ecosystem, small cell, carrier Wi-Fi, C-RAN and DAS investments to account for nearly $13 billion by the end of 2016, as per the report titled ‘HetNet Ecosystem (Small Cells, Carrier Wi-Fi, C-RAN & DAS): 2016 – 2030 – Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts.’
Mobile operators are upping their investments in Heterogeneous Network or HetNet infrastructure like strategically deployed small cells, carrier Wi-Fi and DAS (Distributed Antenna Systems) etc., to keep up with growing capacity and coverage requirements.
In addition to the heterogeneity, the move to C-RAN (Centralized RAN) architecture, zeroing in on baseband functionality, has been shared in between many distributed radio nodes.
C-RAN will replace standalone clusters of base stations, and offer performance and economic benefits like baseband pooling, enhanced coordination between cells, virtualization, network extensibility and energy efficiency.
With a CAGR of 15 percent from 2016 to 2020, the market will witness the mobile operators dealing with the continued growth of mobile data traffic and expanding coverage requirements.
C-RAN is said to become the foundation of the forthcoming 5G network, with mobile operators eager for the shift towards C-RAN (Centralized RAN) architecture. As per estimates over $1 Billion of all C-RAN architecture network investments will be directed towards 5G networks by the end of 2020.
Due to a drop in macrocell RAN infrastructure spending, the wireless network infrastructure market will remain relatively flat through 2020, with annual investments of over $61 billion, as the focus goes to small cells, C-RAN, DAS and carrier Wi-Fi infrastructure, as per SNS Research estimates
Also by 2020, these four submarkets, together with their fronthaul and backhaul segments, will account for over 50 percent of all wireless network infrastructure spending, adds the research.
The C-RAN market will cross investments of $7 Billion, globally, by the end of 2016, with the technology moving to the preferred approach to deploy future mobile networks for both macro and small cell coverage. A growth with a CAGR of nearly 20 percent is estimated for this market between 2016 and 2020, according to MarketIntelReports.
Vina Krishnan
editor@telecomlead.com
