Ericsson Gets Surprisingly High Marks from Operators in Infonetics Microwave Survey

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its new Microwave Strategies and Vendor Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey, which explores operators’ deployment plans and perceptions of microwave equipment suppliers.

ANALYST NOTE

“As the microwave equipment market gets more and more crowded and the climate of cash conservatism persists, service providers are looking at different aspects of vendors and their solutions with ever-greater scrutiny,” says Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave, mobile offload, and mobile broadband devices at Infonetics Research.

Webb adds: “For vendors, strategy has become an increasingly slippery slope—they have to grapple with going in with strong technology at a higher-than-average price, or with lower-priced (but potentially lower-rated) technology, or running the risk of being solid but indistinct across the board. Getting it right is a moving target that currently Ericsson hits on bullseye.”

In Infonetics’ May 2012 Microwave Equipment market share report, NEC held the lead in equipment revenue in the first quarter of 2012 with 20%, just ahead of Ericsson; Huawei was 3rd.

MICROWAVE SURVEY HIGHLIGHTS

• Ericsson is the highest-rated vendor by operators in 8 out of 10 of the criteria Infonetics asked about in its 2012 microwave survey, compared to finishing 1^st in only 1 criterion last year
• Huawei received high scores from operators in pricing and price-to-performance ratio, as it did in Infonetics’ 2011 microwave survey
• The portion of operators deploying all-Ethernet microwave is growing significantly, from 19% now to 38% by 2014
• Short haul, single hop deployment, and 1st-mile mobile backhaul are highly rated applications driving microwave deployments
• Over 3/4 of surveyed operators use microwave for backhauling mobile traffic in urban areas; 2nd-mile backhaul is also popular
• 1/3 of microwave links deployed between now and 2014 will be new links, largely driven by the rollout of small cells

ABOUT THE SURVEY

For its 38-page Microwave Strategies survey, Infonetics interviewed purchase decision-makers for microwave equipment at 25 independent wireless, incumbent, and competitive operators in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Asia Pacific, CALA (Caribbean and Latin America), and North America. The report explores operator plans for deploying microwave equipment and features a vendor scorecard with service provider ratings of 12 microwave manufacturers (Alcatel-Lucent, Aviat Networks, Ceragon, DragonWave, ECI Telecom, Ericsson, Huawei, Intracom, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, SIAE, ZTE). To buy the survey, contact Infonetics Research: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp.

RELATED RESEARCH

• Latest Infonetics Mobile Backhaul and Microwave research brief: http://bit.ly/Rn9MI2
• Mobile broadband boom will prop up microwave equipment market over the long term
• ‘Ultra smart’ vs. ‘smart enough’ competition to drive down smartphone prices
• Femtocell market ignited by tight vendor battles, price erosion, shift to the enterprise
• Mobile backhaul equipment market gets a lift from surge in China
• Millimeter wave gear forecast by Infonetics to grow at 63% CAGR
• Ethernet microwave equipment set to grow 5-fold by 2016
• Small cell market to hit 3 million units in 2016, driven by urban area capacity upgrades
• New study details operator plans for small cell backhaul

UPCOMING RESEARCH

Download Infonetics report highlights, prospectuses, and tables of contents at http://www.infonetics.com/login (see MOBILE BACKHAUL & MICROWAVE or SMALL CELLS & CARRIER WIFI) or download Infonetics’ 2012 Research Calendar at http://bit.ly/zwjcRs.

• Microwave Equipment Market Share and Forecast – 2^nd Quarter
• Millimeter Wave Equipment Market Share and Forecast
• Mobile Backhaul Equipment and Services Market Share and Forecast
• Mobile Backhaul Wireline Equipment Vendor Leadership: Service Provider Survey
• Small Cell and LTE Backhaul Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey
• Small Cell Equipment Market Share and Forecast

INFONETICS IS HIRING

See http://bit.ly/jmXOYO for industry analyst and research analyst job openings.

TO BUY REPORTS, CONTACT SALES:

N. America (West), Asia, Latin America: Larry Howard, [e-mail], [phone]

N. America (East), Texas, Midwest: Scott Coyne, [e-mail], [phone]

Europe, Middle East, Africa: George Stojsavljevic, [e-mail], [phone]

Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan: http://www.infonetics.com/contact.asp

Infonetics Research (www.infonetics.com) is an international market research and consulting firm serving the communications industry since 1990. A leader in defining and tracking emerging and established technologies in all world regions, Infonetics helps clients plan, strategize, and compete effectively.

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