Infonetics: LTE Advanced, small cells to help microwave gear market bounce back in 2015

After drooping revenues in 2014, coming deployments of LTE Advanced technologies and small cells are expected to drive the microwave equipment market back to growth, according to a new report from Infonetics Research.

In its latest report on the TDM, Ethernet, and dual Ethernet/TDM microwave equipment market, Infonetics is forecasting a rebound for next year, though it did not disclose by how much. In the third quarter, the global microwave equipment market hit $1.1 billion, up 4 percent sequentially but down 2 percent from the year-ago period.

The research firm found that backhaul continues to dominate the microwave market, while access and transport remain stable but small segments. Infonetics analyst Richard Webb noted that several vendors saw improved quarter-over-quarter results in the third quarter, and he expects the microwave equipment market to inch up in 2015. 

"So far this year, the microwave equipment market has been in a revenue dip, trending downward due to pricing pressures and intertechnology competition with wireline backhaul alternatives," Webb said in a statement. "But now the combination of LTE-A upgrades and modest growth in small cell deployments is giving the market a small injection of energy."

According to a September report from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), 79 carriers in total have launched, have deployed or are trialing LTE Advanced technologies in their networks. The GSA also said 21 operators have launched LTE Advanced carrier aggregation in 14 countries.

The EMEA region leads the world in microwave equipment revenue, followed by Asia-Pacific, according to Infonetics. Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Ceragon, Ericsson (NASDAQ: ERIC), Huawei, and NEC were among the leaders in the microwave market in the third quarter, Infonetics said.

For more:
- see this release

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