New report from SNS Research estimates wireless infrastructure market ‘relatively flat through 2020’
As 5G takes shape, the telecommunications infrastructure and service provider landscape is changing rapidly. Macro deployments are giving way to small cells and other in-building wireless projects.
In a new report from telecom-focused SNS Research, the authors project a shift away from the macro layer “towards small cells, C-RAN, DAS and carrier Wi-Fi infrastructure. By 2020, these four submarkets, together with their fronthaul and backhaul segments, will account for over 50% of all wireless network infrastructure spending.”
More specifically, the report estimates “the wireless network infrastructure market will remain relatively flat through 2020, with annual investments of over $61 billion.”
This trend away from the macro layer is being driven by convergence of small cell products with C-RAN architecture, which provides numerous cost and operational efficiencies while simultaneously delivering cellular indoors and in otherwise challenging deployment conditions.
From the report: “Mobile operators are keen to shift towards a C-RAN architecture, which centralizes baseband functionality to be shared across a large number of distributed radio nodes. In comparison to standalone clusters of base stations, C-RAN provides significant performance and economic benefits such as baseband pooling, enhanced coordination between cells, virtualization, network extensibility and energy efficiency.”
Another major focus of investment going forward, according to the report, will be the HetNet virtualization solutions that further speed deployment times by automating configuration and optimization.
And while 5G is a huge point of hype in the industry, SNS Research estimates “that LTE networks will generate nearly $800 billion in annual service revenue by 2020. Vendors are increasing their focus on profit margins. Many are already cutting staff, embracing operational excellence, evolving their new business models, acquiring niche businesses and expanding their managed services offerings.”
Click here to access the full report.
