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September 19, 2011

Mobile Infrastructure Spending Grew 25.2 Percent in Q2 2011: Infonetics Research

The mobile infrastructure market is gearing up to see huge investments by telecom operators in the next five years, according to Infonetics Research.

The cumulative spend in the mobile infrastructure segment will be around $250 billion during 2011 to 2015.

The combined Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) equipment spending will grow at a 46 percent 5-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2010 to 2015.

Deployments in GSM, W-CDMA, WiMAX and LTE contributed to equipment spending that grew 25.2 percent in Q2 2011 year-over year, up 5 percent from the previous year.

“Though LTE and 4G continue to make the headlines, GSM was definitely the 2Q11 reality, with massive capacity upgrades in China and India,” said Stephane Teral, Infonetics Research's principal analyst for mobile infrastructure, in a statement

“In addition, 2G and 3G network modernization with multi-standard base transceiver stations (BTS) continues to be strong and will remain the main theme throughout the second half of 2011,” Teral added.

According to Infonetics Research, LTE equipment spending crossed WiMAX for the first time in Q2 2011, with the global LTE market touching $0.6 billion and WiMAX attaining only $0.5 billion.

In Q2 2011, Alcatel-Lucent beat Ericsson in the fast-growing LTE equipment segment by a fraction in global revenue.

“WiMAX continues its solid performance, finding growth from network expansions plus new niches in utility networks,” Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave and small cells at Infonetics Research and co-author of the report.

“Despite now being overtaken by LTE, as had been expected, UQ's investment in 802.16m shows there is an alternative 4G roadmap,” Teral added.

Recently, research firm Deloitte said wireless telecom companies in the United States are likely to invest $25 to $53 billion in 4G networks between 2012 and 2016. The 4G investment will accelerate $73 to $151 billion in gross domestic product growth (GDP) and create 371,000 to 771,000 jobs during the period.




Rajani Baburajan is a contributing editor for MobilityTechzone. To read more of Rajani's articles, please visit her columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell


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