Cellular Backhaul Point-to-Point Radio Market Will Peak in 2007

Strategy Analytics is forecasting that GaAs revenues from the Point-to-Point Radio market will flatten from 2008 onwards corresponding to slowing unit shipment growth of point-to-point radios used for cellular backhaul. Strategy Analytics anticipates greatest growth in cellular subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region through 2010.

This growth will be reflected in infrastructure equipment demand. Regarding frequency trends, Strategy Analytics expects that the traditional frequency segments will continue to dominate point-to-point radios used for cellular backhaul, despite the introduction of radios operating at 60GHz and above.

"With revenues expected to flatten, GaAs device manufacturers will have to provide innovative solutions to stay ahead of competitive pressures," notes Asif Anwar, GaAs Service Director. "We believe a move toward packaged parts and multifunctional chips and/or multi-chip modules will help GaAs companies offset competitive threats from competing silicon technologies in the near term and provide added value to their customers to secure long-term relationships."

"The next-generation rollout of cellular networks is focused on data, thus point-to-point radios will need to be able to offer high data capacities," observed Stephen Entwistle, VP of the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice. "We believe the growing demand for higher data rates will also lead to replacement of existing links to accommodate higher capacity radios."

Posted to the site on 12th December 2006