Nokia Siemens Networks topped the list of LTE base station vendors, according to a new report by ABI Research.
Nokia Siemens topped ABI's latest "LTE Base Station Vendor Matrix." The matrix is not a hard count of the number of LTE base stations deployed, but is a composite of several factors related to LTE base stations, including commercial contracts and contributions of essential intellectual property. According to ABI, Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC), Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent (NASDAQ: ALU) followed NSN on the matrix rankings.
According to ABI, Nokia Siemens took the top spot because of its momentum on contracts, contributions to essential IP for LTE, and its initiatives in small cells. "Nokia Siemens Networks was number one in our implementation score on the back of their impressive number of LTE/RAN contract wins and they were also number one in our score for innovation thanks to the extension of their Liquid Radio roadmap to now encompass Flexi Zone," noted ABI analyst Nick Marshall.
Marshall said that Ericsson and Huawei were close at Nos. 2 and 3 because of their contributions to essential IP for LTE and continued market share gains. He said ABI believes Huawei and Ericsson are closing the gap on NSN.
ABI noted that the vendor matrix is an analytical tool it developed to provide "a clear understanding of vendors' positions in specific markets." Vendors are assessed on the parameters of "innovation" and "implementation" across several criteria unique to each vendor matrix.
ABI recently reported that NSN and Ericsson are leading in the overall mobile core market, with the vendors making up around half of all revenue in the core market. However, Huawei nabbed the No. 2 spot in terms of revenue among wireless infrastructure vendors in the fourth quarter, according to ABI. According to the research firm, Huawei's wireless networks revenue for the quarter clocked in at $2.53 billion, up 54 percent from the third quarter and 38 percent year-over-year. Huawei's wireless networks revenue trailed industry leader Ericsson's $3.5 billion. Huawei passed Nokia Siemens Networks for the No. 2 position; NSN had $2.4 billion in wireless equipment sales during the fourth quarter.
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