After ramping up in 2Q08 in large part due to Beijing Olympics preparations, the worldwide radio access network (RAN) equipment market slid 6% to $9.6 billion in 3Q08 on sharp declines in the CDMA segment, reports market research firm Infonetics Research.
Infonetics says that while most segments of the market declined this quarter, the W-CDMA equipment segment, including base transceiver stations (Node Bs) and base stations controllers (radio network controllers, or RNCs) increased 12% in 3Q08, and is up 19% year-over-year.
"Growth in the W-CDMA segment is due to sustained deployments in various regions, ranging from smartphone- and datacard-driven upgrades in North America and Europe to simple 3G rollouts in other regions. Although the global economic turmoil is likely to put more pressure on the already tough RAN market, Russia, hit by a major currency crisis, is the only country where major mobile operators have announced the suspension of all network equipment orders. Meanwhile, mobile packet core and mobile softswitching continue to be the bright spots of the mobile infrastructure market, driven by a migration to IP. All major operators told us they would stick with their mobile broadband plans, and therefore continue to beef up their mobile core networks," said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile and FMC infrastructure at Infonetics.
Other highlights from the report:
Posted to the site on 10th December 2008
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