The global base transmitting station (BTS) market grew by 23% in units in 2013, according to the latest report from EJL Wireless Research titled “Global Base Station Market Analysis and Forecast, 10th Edition, 2014-2018.” “2013 was the year of LTE as new network deployments drove demand to record levels,” says founder and President, Earl Lum. The report provides a unique perspective on the global shipments and demand for base station equipment covering all air interface standards and frequencies and major OEMs including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, Nokia Solution Networks, Samsung Electronics, and ZTE. The report also analyzes shipment of remote radio units (RRU).

Some key and notable facts from the analysis include:

  • EJL Wireless Research LLC was correct in predicting growth in overall W-CDMA/HSPA+ BTS shipments for 2013 with a forecast variance of 10%
  • EJL Wireless Research LLC was correct in predicting overall CDMA BTS shipments for 2012 with a forecast variance of 10%

These data points continue to support our leadership position in forecasting capability within the wireless infrastructure market and the granularity in quantitative details we can provide to our global client base. 

“Similar to the BTS transceiver market, LTE BTS shipments increased significantly, up 280% in 2013, as demand for LTE-TDD in China drove shipment volumes. We estimate that TDD-LTE BTS accounted for 28% of overall LTE BTS shipments in 2013, compared with 16% in 2012. Distributed RRU (dRRU) BTS shipments were 73% of the market in 2013 as compared with 42% in 2012,” says Lum.

Some key predictions from EJL Wireless Research LLC for 2014:

  • Global BTS shipments will be down 17%
  • Global BTS LTE-FDD shipments are expected to decrease 13%
  • Global BTS LTE-TDD shipments are expected to increase 25%
  • Global BTS W-CDMA/HSPA+ shipments are expected to decline by 26%

The top suppliers for overall base station shipments as well as by air interface standards for 2013 were:

  • Overall #1 BTS Supplier: Huawei Technologies
  • Overall #1 GSM BTS Supplier: Huawei Technologies
  • Overall #1 W-CDMA/HSPA+ BTS Supplier: Ericsson
  • Overall #1 CDMA BTS Supplier: Huawei Technologies
  • Overall #1 LTE BTS Supplier: Huawei Technologies

The report is currently available for purchase and information can be downloaded at www.ejlwireless.com.