The microwave backhaul sector has suffered a year of intense pressure, as operators delay investments while they work out their HetNet and small cell strategies, but these new networks will create a surge in the whole mobile backhaul market in 2016.
Backhaul is a key obstacle in the way of deploying these new-style networks quickly, and many operators have postponed roll-outs while they refine the plans and economics, or have focused their initial efforts on indoor small cells. These are among the factors creating a 12% decrease in point-to-point (P2P) microwave equipment revenue during the first half of 2013.
This is one conclusion of the latest backhaul research report from Maravedis-Rethink, entitled ‘Avoiding drowning in the mobile data tide: wireless backhaul market from an intermodal perspective’. This is based on detailed study of the top 40 mobile carrier groups, a total of over 200 operating units. This found that, between 2013 and 2018, total wireless metrocell backhaul equipment revenue will add up to $ 4.84bn.
‘Starting in 2014, the P2P microwave macro backhaul market will experience moderate growth before sharply surging by 17% in 2016 as a consequence of LTE deployment acceleration in several regions of the world,’ said Esteban Monturus, principal backhaul analyst and author of the report.
In addition, other mobile backhaul categories will see more buoyant performance. In particular, millimeter wave and point-to-multipoint (PmP) microwave segments showed impressive growth of 96% and 21% respectively during the first half of 2013, and these are expected to be driven by metrocell deployments in the future, at the expense of P2P solutions. E-band options are dominant in the emerging millimeter wave world, while the alternative, V-band, is driven mainly by the enterprise.
‘The market size for P2P will experience moderate growth until 2015, followed by a steep surge in 2016 and subsequent decline. P2P vendors will therefore need to identify diversification strategies in order to remain competitive,’ added Monturus.
Sub-6GHz backhaul is expected to rise to second place in terms of total wireless metrocell backhaul revenue, after millimeter wave, by 2018. ‘The technology improvements in modulation and spectrum reuse that sub-6GHz vendors are expected to introduce in the coming quarters will finally enable their technology to be considered a viable candidate for LTE metrocell backhaul,’ said Monturus.
In the established P2P sector, Huawei has maintained its lead, while in the smaller PmP segment, Cambridge Broadband (CBNL) also held onto prime position. Regionally, North American operators are already planning 1Gbps capacity in their sites, well ahead of their European counterparts.
For more information on the Maravedis-Rethink report, ‘Avoiding drowning in the mobile data tide: wireless backhaul market from an intermodal perspective’, please contact Adlane Fellah on [email protected] for an executive summary.