Telecom Lead India: Operator spending for mobile core
networks decreased to $21.4 billion in 2011 from $24.6 billion in 2010. Market
leaders Ericsson and Nokia Siemens are accounting for almost half of the total
core network revenue.
Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks both increased their
market shares in 2011, due to their dominant positions in contracts for 4G LTE
core networks.
ABI Research said the statistics is based on the revenues
reported by network equipment vendors. Despite the decrease in the total market
size for core network equipment in 2011, some vendors managed to increase their
core network sales.
LTE device revenues touch $2.5 billion with 8 million units in
2011
According to analyst firm Signals
and Systems Telecom, LTE device shipments reached 8 million units at the
end of 2011. With most vendors going full swing into the LTE, the LTE devices
market is set to grow at a CAGR of over 104 percent over the next five years
reaching 300 million shipments by 2016. 2012 alone will see shipments
increase to 32 million units.
ABI Research said the overall decrease in mobile core
network spending comes despite significant operator investments in 2011 for
launching new 4G networks.
Thanks to well-planned architectural evolutions from 3G
to 4G and earlier operator investments to make their networks 4G-ready, most
operators have been able to simply upgrade their existing core networks to
launch 4G services, instead of replacing all of the core network equipment,”
said Aditya Kaul, practice director, mobile networks, ABI Research.
LTE device interoperability issues and lack of spectrum
harmonization to impact roll outs
According to GSMA, there will be 38 different spectrum
frequency combinations used in LTE deployments by 2015, a fragmented scenario
fuelled by ongoing spectrum auctions, licence renewals and re-farming initiatives
across frequency bands.
There will be more than 200 live LTE networks in over 70
countries by 2015, up from 40 networks in 24 countries today. The report notes
that the IMT-extension band (2500/2600MHz) is the most globally harmonized band
used in LTE deployments to date, accounting for over half of live networks in
2011.
