OYSTER BAY, N.Y.-Lucent Technologies Inc. and Motorola Inc. are at the short end of wireless infrastructure contracts owing to their late start in the UMTS market, according to a report from Allied Business Intelligence.
Lucent has an 11-percent market share, a drop from 17 percent in 2003, while Motorola plunged from 12 percent to 4 percent in the same period, said ABI.
However, the study, notes that the protocol has only 18-percent wireless market share in 2004, opening it for competition, and also states that both companies have great potential in the market, which is forecast to skyrocket to 87-percent market share in 2009.
“While this may appear to be a disproportionate share, it must be noted that the signal propagation at 2.1 GHz is much shorter than the propagation at 850 MHz, where the competing CDMA 1x EV-DO typically operates,” said ABI.
ABI state that the first quarter has shown a renewed acceleration of contract wins. “3G launches are also beginning a gradual increase,” said Ray Jodoin, ABI’s Director of Wireless Infrastructure Research, “while GSM service providers explore EDGE as a cost-effective suburban and rural solution.”
