Mobile infrastructure revs to hit €32b by 2014

US analysts predict light at the end of the tunnel for embattled network equipment vendors, forecasting that revenues from mobile infrastructure will begin growing again from 2011 onwards.
 
Dell’Oro Group says revenues will hit $43 billion (€32 billion) by end 2014 – their highest level since 2008 – fuelled by a surge in demand for WCDMA equipment and upgrades to LTE.
 
Operators will begin spending heavily to meet growing demand for mobile bandwidth caused by increased penetration of smartphones, the firm said.
 
“We forecast worldwide mobile data traffic will double each year,” Scott Siegler, senior analyst of mobile infrastructure research at Dell’Oro said.
 
While 3G infrastructure is tipped to account for 75% of the total market by 2014, the firm says LTE equipment will begin to play a part from 2H10, and account for $6 billion of total revenues by 2014.
 
The firm’s latest revenue forecast is $1 billion higher than it previously predicted, though it stands by its forecast of flat revenues during 2010.
 
However, even that will be welcome news for vendors, after the market experienced double-digit declines in 4Q09 and 1Q10.