Global macrocell mobile infrastructure market revenue dropped a sharp 18% quarterly in 1Q’16 to total $10 billion, according to data about LTE infrastructure revenue published by IHS Technology. North America, Mexico and Japan numbered among the few bright spots, the market research provider highlights in analysis and commentary associated with the release of its latest Mobile Infrastructure Quarterly Market Tracker.
LTE Infrastructure Revenue in Decline
Global macrocell mobile market revenue dropped 8% year-over-year (YoY), while LTE infrastructure revenue declined 23% quarterly and 6% YoY. That’s a signal the market has entered the post-LTE peak era, senior research director and report author Stéphane Téral wrote.
¨For the first time since the beginning of LTE rollouts in 2012, all generations of mobile technologies experienced a sharp decline,” he noted.
All that said, 2G, 3G and 4G software revenues collectively rose 17% YoY in 2015 to exceed $15.2 billion, IHS said. Investment in LTE-A upgrades fueled the rise.
Among vendors, Ericsson remained the market leader in macro 2G/3G/4G radio technologies in 1Q´16. A geographically diverse mix of ¨tier 1¨ accounts supported Ericsson’s 1Q performance. Huawei held on to second position followed closely by Nokia (including Alcatel-Lucent’s contribution).
Other mobile infrastructure market highlights included:
- The long tail of the 2G/3G end-of-life cycle continued in the first quarter of 2016 (Q1 2016), with revenue sinking 12 percent quarter-over-quarter, just kept alive by a strong wideband code division multiple access (W-CDMA) quarter in Japan
- 422 of the 494 commercial LTE networks launched to date are of the frequency division duplex (FDD) variety
- Software for 2G, 3G and 4G networks is forecast to grow at a 2015–2020 compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 9 percent and is projected to top $23 billion in 2020.
