The carrier Wi-Fi equipment revenue rose 6 percent to $286 million in the first half of 2014 and it will reach $3 billion in 2018, said Infonetics Research.
The contribution of 802.11ac access points was 11 percent to Wi-Fi access point revenue in H1 2014. Infonetics Research said 802.11ac access points are expected to see notable adoption in the coming years.
Growth will be driven by the demand for service augmentation, upgrade to the 802.11ac standard, the opportunities presented by Hotspot 2.0, voice over Wi-Fi (VoWi-Fi), and network functions virtualization (NFV) to derive new service models.
The other growth driver for carrier Wi-Fi market is fixed and mobile operators who are seeking to extend and enhance their broadband subscription services.
The research report said evolution of network functions virtualization (NFV) offers the opportunity for more cost effective Wi-Fi service delivery by a range of service providers as well as enterprises and other organizations with existing Wi-Fi (or wireless LAN) deployments.
In 2013, the size of the global carrier Wi-Fi equipment market including carrier Wi-Fi access points and Wi-Fi hotspot controllers grew 9 percent to $527 million, driven in part by the deployment of small cells with integrated Wi-Fi.
In the first half of 2014, Cisco, Huawei and Ruckus Wireless were the leading players in the global carrier Wi-Fi market.
