Microwave transmission market grew 2% in 2022, says Dell’Oro
According to a recently published report by the Dell'Oro Group, a source for market information about the telecommunications, security, networks, and data centre industries, the microwave transmission equipment market grew by 2% in 2022 to reach US$3 billion.
The market growth in the year was driven entirely by mobile backhaul, which grew by 7%. E-band radio shipments returned to a double-digit growth rate in 4Q 2022 due to the start of 5G rollouts in India. In the quarter, radio transceiver shipments grew nearly 40% year-over-year.
The Dell'Oro Group microwave transmission and mobile backhaul quarterly report offer complete, in-depth market coverage with tables covering manufacturers' revenue, ports/radio transceivers shipped, and average selling prices by capacities (low, high, and E/V Band). The report tracks point-to-point TDM, Packet, Hybrid Microwave, and complete indoor and outdoor unit configurations.
"Demand for Microwave Transmission is on the rise as 5G deployments expand geographically. We are expecting this growth trend to continue for many more years," says Jimmy Yu, Vice President at Dell'Oro Group.
"Dell'Oro Group is a market research firm that specializes in strategic competitive analysis in the telecommunications, security, enterprise networks, and data center infrastructure markets. Our firm provides in-depth quantitative data and qualitative analysis to facilitate critical, fact-based business decisions."
A few highlights from the 4Q 2022 microwave transmission and mobile backhaul quarterly report include mobile network operators continuing to install more wireless backhaul, driving a significant increase in demand for microwave transmission equipment in 2022. A further 5% increase in mobile backhaul demand is projected for 2023.
The reports include tables showing manufacturers' revenue, radio transceivers, and average selling prices by various technologies.
Notably, the component shortages began to ease in late 2022. As a result, by the fourth quarter, the revenue shortfall from inadequate supply declined to only a percent.
Huawei, Ericsson, and Nokia held the highest revenue share in 2022. However, among these top three manufacturers, Huawei was the only vendor to increase its market share.
Huawei regained two percentage points of market share in the year. In addition, the company significantly improved its share across all regions, except countries that exclude Huawei gear for geopolitical reasons.
"Explosive growth in mobile data traffic driven by 4G and 5G is driving service providers to expand their mobile backhaul capacity with both Fiber/Copper and Wireless technologies. To take advantage of the opportunities in this market, component manufacturers, equipment vendors, service providers, and financial institutions need to answer critical business questions including the growth potential of the mobile backhaul market, demand for fibre and copper in macro cells, expected market size of E-band and various microwave transmission systems, pricing trends and names of the venders," adds Yu.
"To answer these questions, Dell'Oro Group delivers both quarterly reports and 5-year forecasts on the microwave transmission and mobile backhaul market."
"In this report, we have combined two inter-related market forecasts: mobile backhaul transport and microwave transmission. Mobile backhaul transport includes forecasts for two technologies that are commonly used for mobile backhaul: fibre/copper and wireless. Fibre/copper includes optical transport equipment, such as multiservice multiplexers, and access equipment, such as DSL/PON. Wireless includes point-to-point as well as point-to-multipoint equipment."
Microwave Transmission includes a forecast for three point-to-point systems: TDM Microwave, Packet Microwave, and Hybrid Microwave. It also consists of a forecast by system configuration: complete indoor unit (FIDU), entire outdoor unit (FODU), and split-mount. The Microwave Transmission forecast covers all applications using a microwave for transport, including mobile backhaul, which alone drives approximately 70 percent of the Microwave Transmission market's revenues.
"The forecasts provide a comprehensive overview of market trends and include tables covering revenue, shipments, average selling price, and regional forecasts for various technologies," concludes Yu.
