SAN JOSE, Calif.-The wireless infrastructure market grew 63 percent to $5.3 billion last year, driven largely by the increased spending of personal communications services companies, according to research compiled by Dataquest Inc. in its report “Personal Communications Services and Equipment Market Share.”
PCS spending increased from $530 million in 1995 to $2.8 billion in 1996, while the cellular infrastructure market experienced negative growth, said the firm.
Clint McClellan, industry analyst for Dataquest’s personal communications program, said Northern Telecom Ltd. showed the strongest growth because it was the only company to win sizable contracts for Code Division Multiple Access and PCS-1900 technologies. However, Lucent Technologies Inc. maintained its lead in the U.S. cellular and PCS infrastructure markets.
Dataquest said L.M. Ericsson and Motorola Inc. both posted steady growth in the cellular and PCS markets but lost market share due to Nortel’s success in winning PCS contracts. Ericsson and Motorola are poised for global growth though, because each has a larger installed base than Lucent or Nortel, the company said.
