Base station expenditures in Q3 2012 in the Asia-Pacific region at $7.6 billion, or more than half of the total market, continued to be more than 4 times higher than in Western Europe or North America, and grew 50 percent compared to the year ago quarter, while North America spending grew 27 percent year-on-year in Q3 2012.
Meanwhile the total wireless infrastructure equipment market continued its downward trend in the third quarter of 2012 reaching only $15.4 billion – a 3.1 percent decrease from the second quarter of 2012 and an 18.9 percent increase from the same quarter one year ago.
For base station equipment the highlight this quarter, similar to previous quarters, continued to be found in LTE. “Expenditures this quarter on LTE base station equipment were at the same level as Q2 2012 and almost 3 times higher than in Q3 2011 and WCDMA technologies also grew by 21 percent versus the year ago quarter,” says Nick Marshall, principal analyst, networks.
“ABI Research expects these trends to continue throughout 2013 with strong LTE growth followed by double-digit growth for WCDMA, against a background of a declining overall market as legacy technologies phase out,” continues Marshall.
ABI Research’s “Macro Base Stations” Market Data quarterly report tracks base station deployments by technology, region, and country. The data also includes forecasts for new deployments, upgrades, and replacements annually through 2018, as well as base station spend estimates.
These findings are part of ABI Research’s Macro Basestations Research Service which includes additional research reports, market data, and Insights.