Rapidly increasing mobile data use by consumers and businesses will fuel growth in wireless point-to-point radios. The recently released Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service (GaAs) Data Model, “Wireless Point-to-Point Radio Component Demand,” forecasts that wireless point-to-point radios, used to backhaul mobile data, will grow from nearly 1.4 million in 2010 to slightly more than 2 million in 2015. This growth in demand will account for $300 M of GaAs device revenue in 2015.

Strategy Analytics also forecasts that the Asia-Pacific region will account for slightly more than 50 percent of wireless point-to-point radio shipments over this period. This Strategy Analytics analysis indicates strong growth for point-to-point radios above 60 GHz, but this segment will account for less than 3 percent of the total radio volume. According to this Data Model, the highest volume of point-to-point radio shipments will occur in the 10 to 20 GHz frequency range, accounting for nearly 46 percent of shipments over the forecast period.

“The tremendous increase in mobile data consumption is rippling through many market segments,” noted Eric Higham, Director of the Strategy Analytics GaAs and Compound Semiconductor Technologies Service. “As operators deploy more base stations to handle the data increase, wireless point-to-point radios are becoming a very attractive option to backhaul the data from the edge to the core of the network.”

Asif Anwar, Director in the Strategy Analytics Strategic Technologies Practice added, “Because of the frequency and performance requirements of wireless point-to-point radios, Gallium Arsenide (GaAs) will continue to play a key role in this market segment.”

The Data Model highlights dynamics in the wireless point-to-point radio market. It segments radio shipments by frequency, application and geography. The report also estimates total revenues and shipment quantity for GaAs devices.