Evolved Packet Core (EPC) market revenue fell 5 percent year on year and rose 4 percent quarter on quarter in Q2 2018, Dell’Oro Group said.
Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, Cisco and ZTE are the top technology vendors in the global EPC market – based on their revenue share.
The combined market share of Ericsson and Huawei increased to over 60 percent in the second quarter.
Ericsson, Huawei, and Nokia increased their share in the quarter with quarter-over-quarter growth rates exceeding the average four percent.
The report said growth in LTE subscribers, video, and the migration to 5G are driving the growth in EPC.
Global LTE connections reached 3.2 billion at the end of March 2018. LTE subscriber base is forecast to achieve 4 billion connections in 2019 and pass 5 billion connections in 2021, said a report from Ovum.
“Most of the service providers launching their 5G networks at the end of 2018 and into 2019 will upgrade their EPC rather than invest in a new 5G core,” David Bolan, senior analyst at Dell’Oro Group, said.
Huawei gained the most share in the Asia Pacific region with over twice the share of Nokia or Ericsson who ranked second and third, respectively.
NFV market revenue rose 70 percent year on year as mobile service providers have started upgrading their packet core in preparation for 5G. Initially, deployments of 5G will use the EPC.
Huawei’s NFV share rose sharply quarter on quarter, taking the lead over Ericsson. The NFV market is a very small market and large EPC upgrades by Tier 1 service providers can swing the vendor shares from quarter-to-quarter.
