Cignal AI: Compact Modular Optical Equipment Market to hit $1 Billion in 2018
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T-Mobile talks up 5G fixed Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) to FCC
In a prepared statement to the FCC intended to buttress the case for the T-Mobile merger with Sprint, current T-Mobile COO Mike Sievert laid out the company’s objectives for “5G” as a home broadband option.
The claim is that this new fixed BWA offers performance better than Verizon and AT&T while being able to realistically compete with cablecos/MSOs like Comcast and Charter (as well as other triple play service providers that offer download speeds in excess of 100Mbps).
Editor’s Note:
Sievert didn’t say what technology and spectrum would be used, or mention that there are no standards for “5G” BWA and that fixed wireless is not even a use case for ITU-R IMT 2020 (real 5G) standard. IEEE decided not to submit 802.11ax or 802.11ay to ITU-R as proposed 5G BWA standards to complement IMT 2020.
In the absence of a standard, T-Mobile didn’t say what specification they are using for their “5G” BWA and really haven’t said much till now about their roll out plans for that offering. In August, T-Mobile said it would start deploying mobile 5G in 2019 with 30 cities named.
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Sievert explained that most people in the U.S. have few options when it comes to in-home internet and that their choices often include high prices and slow internet speeds. With T-Mobile’s 5G fixed BWA, millions of U.S. households would be offered high speed internet and create a competitive environment that lowers prices.
T-Mobile’s in-home 5G BWA plans include 100Mbps download speeds out of the gate, but would increase those speeds to between 300Mbps and 500Mbps for 200+ million people by 2024. Sievert wrote in his FCC post:
New T-Mobile’s (merged with Sprint) 5G network will change this competitive dynamic by closing the speed differential between mobile and wired broadband. By combining the resources of TMobile and Sprint, the combined company will create the capacity and coverage to provide in home broadband services. Our business planning has confirmed that there is a large market for New T-Mobile’s in-home broadband offering at the anticipated pricing and service levels. New T-Mobile’s entry into the in-home broadband marketplace will cause incumbent providers to lower their prices and invest in their networks—benefitting all in-home broadband customers.
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T-Mobile says that its 5G BWA will only be available in areas where network “capacity exceeds mobile requirements and is sufficient to support the in-home services.” That should mean coverage in at least 52% of US zip codes. T-Mobile says they could have 1.9 million 5G home internet customers by 2021 and 9.5 million by 2024.
T-Mobile also wants to make 5G home internet available without the need for installation of devices by a professional, which would mean eliminating expensive setup costs. Their goal is to allow customers the option to “self-provision the necessary in-home equipment.” That’s the opposite of how Verizon’s new 5G home service works.
T-Mobile 5G home internet will also be available without contracts or strict monthly data caps, according to Sievert.
T-Mobile will cover 64 percent of Charter’s territory and 68 percent of Comcast’s territory with its in-home broadband services by 2024. In addition, New T-Mobile expects to utilize caching and other network optimization techniques to increase the number of households that can be served. In sum, New T-Mobile will have the depth and breadth of network to deliver broadband speeds and capacity to consumers across the country.
New T-Mobile’s in-home wireless broadband offering will provide consumers across the country with average download speeds of 100 Mbps. By 2024, New T-Mobile will be able to cover more than 250 million people with data rates greater than 300 Mbps and more than 200 million people at greater than 500 Mbps.
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5G hotspot as an in-home option: Sievert also talked about allowing customers to simply use their mobile 5G plan as their only home internet solution. He explained that “New T-Mobile will also enable consumers to use their mobile services as a substitute for in-home broadband.” My guess is that T-Mobile could have an option within their wireless plans that opens up data caps for higher usage.
Currently,, T-Mobile offers 4G wireless plans that can throttle users after 50GB of data use in a month and also limits hotspot usage in many cases. For a customer to be able to use their mobile 5G plans for home internet, they’d have to remove those caps or offer some sort of tier that expands them.
Summing up, Sievert stated:
The planned service area of New T-Mobile’s broadband services will also dwarf the limited service areas of wired broadband providers. These speeds and coverage areas will be offered at a significant discount to the prices of traditional broadband providers, with monthly prices planned to be generally lower than traditional services
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Chris Milla wrote in a related blog post:
T-Mobile knows that rural broadband and broadband competition are two hot-button issues within the FCC right now, so it’s positioning the merger as a magical solution to those problems, without showing how its new claims match up with statements it was making less than a year ago. It’s the same thing that the company has been doing with 5G, and with prepaid wireless during this merger process — saying whatever the FCC wants to hear, with the reality a distant second.
What do you think of this gambit? Please comment in the box below this article.
References:
https://ecfsapi.fcc.gov/file/109171182702890/Appendices%20A-K%20(Public).pdf
LightCounting: Optical Transceiver Sales Increased in 2Q-2018 despite ZTE shutdown
Sales of optical transceivers rose sequentially and held their own year-on-year, according to LightCounting. The market research firm’s “September 2018 Quarterly Market Update Report” states that strong demand for Ethernet optics for data center and enterprise applications, as well as improvements in worldwide wireless front haul and FTTx optics interest, provided a boost for fiber optic transceiver sales in 2Q-2018. That’s despite demand for DWDM transceivers hit a multiyear low due to the temporary shutdown of Chinese vendor ZTE.
LightCounting reported that shipments of 100GbE SR4 and CWDM4 modules in the first half of the year exceeded their expectations. The opposite was true of all other 100GbE transceivers, with several suppliers citing excess inventory at Amazon as a drag on 100GbE PSM4 sales. However, demand for 10GbE transceivers was very strong in the first six months of this year; unit shipments grew by more than 20%, according to the new report. The majority of these modules went to applications in enterprise networks. Cisco reported a 42% increase in the number of 10GbE ports shipped into this market in 1H18. And even 1GbE transceiver sales grew slightly in Q2 2018, LightCounting added.
Sales of optical transceivers picked up sequentially during the second quarter of 2018. (Source: LightCounting)
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Looking at the market from a fiber optic transceiver customer perspective, Internet Content Providers (ICPs) spent 80% more on their optical infrastructures in the first half of 2018 than during the same time in 2017. Communications Service Providers (CSPs) also increased their spending during this year’s first half versus 2017, although by only 2.6%.
The LightCounting 2Q-2018 report was more positive than either IHS-Markit or Cignal AI which both found the optical hardware market struggling in this year’s second quarter.
Looking ahead, LightCounting expects DWDM module sales to pick up now that ZTE is back in business. The company cited the fact that Acacia Communications executives anticipate a nearly 40% sequential increase in third quarter 2018 sales, with ZTE responsible for 60% of that.
The new “Quarterly Market Update” includes data and commentary on the Q2 2018 financial results of CSPs, ICPs, networking hardware, optical components, modules, and semiconductor chip makers. It also includes shipment data through Q2 2018 for more than 100 optical transceiver and wavelength selective switch (WSS) products.
LightCounting Contact Info: Tel: 408.962.4851 Email: [email protected]
Press Release for this report: https://www.lightcounting.com/News_091818.cfm
Dell’Oro: Service Provider Edge Router & Switch Sales -8% in 1H-2018
Sales of network service provider Edge Routers and Carrier Ethernet switches declined 8% year over year in the first half of 2018 (1H-2018), according to Dell’Oro Group’s just released market research report.
“The confluence of tepid telecom spending, maturing 4G mobile backhaul deployments, and new product introductions have contributed to the reduction in demand for routers and switches,” said Shin Umeda, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. “Telecom operators in the US have pared down their spending well below historical levels as they evaluate new technologies and architectures for 5G backhaul, and on top of that, the massive network buildouts in China are slowing after years of growth.”
“On the positive side, Cisco, Juniper, and Nokia have introduced major upgrades to their edge router portfolios that should bring customers back in the coming quarters,” added Umeda.
Cisco announced enhancements to its upgrades ASR 9000 edge routing platform earlier this month, while Juniper Networks has upgraded its MX Series for the demands of 5G wireless networks and announced 400 Gigabit Ethernet which must be primarily for high performance cloud data centers and possibly data center interconnects.
Cisco, Huawei, Nokia (via Alcatel-Lucent), and Juniper Networks were the carrier switch/router vendor market share leaders in the second quarter, according to Dell’Oro. A bounce in European switch/router sales was not enough to fully offset declines in North America and Asia Pacific.
The Dell’Oro Group “Router & Carrier Ethernet Switch Quarterly Report” covers the service provider core and edge router, Carrier Ethernet switch, and enterprise router markets for current and historical time periods. The report includes qualitative analysis and statistics for vendor market shares, revenue, average selling prices, and unit and port shipments.
About the Report:
The Dell’Oro Group Router & Carrier Ethernet Switch Quarterly Report offers complete, in-depth coverage of the Service Provider Core and Edge Router, Carrier Ethernet Switch, and Enterprise Router markets for current and historical time periods. The report includes qualitative analysis and detailed statistics for vendor market shares, revenue, average selling prices, and unit and port shipments. To purchase these reports, please contact us by email at [email protected].
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A new study titled, ‘Global Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router Market’ added by Reports Monitor is a collection of different segmentations, which includes the product types and uses, foundation elements of (Market/Product Name), and expected adoption timeline of Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router sales in the industry. This report provides a detailed analysis of the various use cases and applications of Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router Market in the global industry, their benefits, and challenges for their implementation. Moreover, it provides the potential revenue generation from the adoption of Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router for each application over the forecast period.
The market has been studied on the basis of various macro- and microeconomic factors influencing it. While focusing on the major driving and restraining factors for the market, the report also provides an in-depth study of the competitive landscape, investment scenario, regulatory framework, and the key strategies and developments taking place within the Global Carrier Ethernet Switch and Router Market.The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications. Our business offerings represent the latest and the most reliable information indispensable for businesses to sustain a competitive edge.
Enquire for the Discount on this Report at:https://www.marketinsightsreports.com/reports/0914839668/global-and-southeast-asia-carrier-ethernet-switch-and-router-industry-2018-market-research-report/discount?source=thefairreporter&mode=03
Superb Article on What’s Wrong with Communications Industry by Steve Saunders, co-founder of Light Reading
Here’s the url for Steve Saunder’s spot on the money article: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/future-communications-steve-saunders/
The only add on I have to Steve’s exquisite post is that the lack of standards is pervasive throughout the WAN space:
- SD WANs are a single vendor solution – no UNI or NNI specified or being worked on by an accredited standards body.
- NFV: No standards for exposed interfaces, APIs (NFV orchestrator (NFVO) to/from virtual appliances), no backward compatibility between virtual appliances and physical appliances, no standard for network management or fault isolation/repair, etc.
- Every major Cloud Service Provider (CSP) has their own defacto standards/specs and APIs, e.g. Amazon, Google, MSFT, etc
- Every major CSP has their own connectivity solution(s) from customer premises network to their point of presence (PoP); and their own method for realizing a virtual private cloud (VPC)
- Every CSP and network service provider has their own definition and implementation of SDN, including one or more southbound API (s) to/from Control Plane to data plane. That southbound API was supposed to be ONLY OpenFlow according to the ONF. The Northbound API was never standardized and there are many options. Many SDNs use an overlay network and virtualization of network functions while others do not. Equipment and software built for one provider’s SDN won’t operate on another’s as the specs are different and usually proprietary.
- Far too many LPWANs for IoT: Sigfox (by company with same name), LoRa WAN, Weightless SIG (unidirectional Weightless-N, bidirectional Weightless-P and Weightless-W), NB-IoT, LTE Cat M1, many other proprietary versions like RPMA (from Ingenu).
- The message sets between “things”/IoT devices and the cloud controller have not been standardized. Neither is the functions of an “IoT Platform” which has become a wild west menagerie of incompatible platforms from hundreds of vendors.
- Every so called “5G” deployment planned before IMT 2020 has been completed (end of 2020) is proprietary. The only thing in common seems to be use of 3GPP release 15 “5G New Radio” which is not a standard. That implies mobile 5G will have severe roaming problems when moving from one 5G carrier to another.
And the list goes on and on and on……………………………………….
Without agreed upon standards, the upshot is that the big cloud players (Google, Amazon, FB, Microsoft, Tencent, Alibaba, Baidu, etc) will dominate communications in the future (I think they already dominate all of IT!!)
Also, the rise of open source hardware organizations (OCP, TIP, ONF, etc) along with Taiwan/China ODMs have profoundly changed the communications industry. With so many open source white boxes and bare metal switches available, there is little or no value add for vendor specific network equipment other than possibly higher performance (e.g. throughput).
India Selects Cisco, Samsung, Nokia, Ericsson for 5G trials; Bars Huawei and ZTE
India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has excluded Huawei and ZTE from its list of companies asked to partner for trials to develop 5G use cases for India. New Delhi may well follow the US and Australia in limiting involvement of Chinese telecom equipment makers in the roll-out of the next-gen technology.
“We have written to Cisco, Samsung, Ericsson and Nokia, and telecom service providers to partner with us to start 5G technology-based trials, and have got positive response from them,” telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan told ETTelecom.
“We have excluded Huawei from these trials,” she said, when asked if Huawei has been eliminated from the trials for security reasons. The government is planning to show case India-specific 5G use cases by early 2019.
People familiar with the matter said besides Huawei, the government has also excluded ZTE for the 5G trials.
India’s move comes shortly after both the US and Australia moved to act against Huawei and ZTE amid concerns about possible cyber snooping by China. Last month, Australia barred both Huawei and ZTE from its 5G network roll-outs. Before that, the US had barred government use of equipment from the two Chinese gear makers, in what is perceived as wider efforts to keep the companies away from 5G roll-outs in the country. The UK has also found “shortcomings” in Huawei’s engineering processes, which the company said it was trying to address.
“This appears more a move to restrict government ties with Chinese equipment makers given the sensitive nature of security issues, especially after what happened in some other countries,” said an industry executive who asked not to be named.
This though isn’t the first time Chinese equipment makers have faced trouble in India over security issues. Back in 2010, the government had for several months unofficially barred mobile phone operators from importing and using telecom equipment from Chinese companies on suspicion that they may have technology built in for spying into sensitive communication. The ban was lifted after the companies agreed to more stringent testing rules.
The latest government move could deal a huge setback to the two companies, especially Huawei – among the largest equipment makers globally – which considers itself the leader in 5G technology and hopes to tap into huge demand for 5G software and equipment in the years ahead as telcos roll-out the next-gen technology globally.
That bid faces a huge challenge as more and more countries try to prevent the companies from participating in their 5G roll-out plans.
In India, Huawei has already been facing huge pressure on revenue owing to rapid consolidation in the telecom market, which has slashed the number of telcos by more than half. The company, staring at a 40% slump in revenue in 2018, has already stopped assembly of its products out of its local plants and has resorted to import to meet the reduced demand. Huawei’s India revenue is likely to come down to roughly $700-800 million (Rs 4,740-5,415 crore) this year from around $1.2 billion in 2017.
And with the DoT’s decision, Huawei’s business could come under more pressure even as India chalks out aggressive 5G plans.
“We are in regular touch with DoT and concerned government officials. The Indian government has always supported Huawei and has been appreciative of our path-breaking technologies and solutions,” Huawei in a statement late Thursday said, adding that the company was confident that showcasing its 5G technology would lead to a collaboration with the government and other ecosystem, allowing it to partner India in its journey to enable 5G and digital transformation.
The Chinese gear maker also said that it is working closely with various telecom operators as they would play a crucial role in conducting 5G field trial for India specific use cases. ZTE didn’t respond to ET’s emailed query as of press time.
“We are going to set up core group in the department to push this (trials) further, so that by early next year, we would be able to demonstrate 5G use cases in India,” Sundararajan said.
“As of now, we are at par with all major economies and have set up a high-level task force, which in its report has given the recommendations for the spectrum, standards, skills and early roll-outs,” she added.
The government is confident that India will roll-out 5G in tandem with global markets in 2020 and is making all efforts to keep the timeline for the next-generation technology, which could have an economic impact of more than $1 trillion in the country.
“We are committed to support the government’s 5G for India programme, aimed at bringing 5G to India by 2020,” Ericsson India managing director Nitin Bansal said, adding that the Swedish company is looking at developing the 5G ecosystem in India through industry partnerships.
Telstra on 5G: “Where Promise Meets Reality” + 3GPP Release 16 status
Fears that 5G use cases do not justify the extensive investments required to roll out the technology are unfounded, and the technology is going to change the world, according to Telstra CEO Andy Penn’s blog post, published to coincide with the 3GPP meeting this week,. More than 600 delegates from the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) – the body that produces specifications used in “5G” trials/early commercial “5G” deployments, and inputs submissions to ITU-R WP5D for IMT 2020, will be meeting at Australia’s Gold Coast this week.
–>See below for status of 3GPP Release 16 which will be the real deal 5G spec to be submitted as a candidate IMT 2020 Radio Interface Technology (RIT) to ITU-R WP5D in July 2019.
Penn wrote in the aforementioned blog post: “Will 5G change the world?” The short answer is absolutely yes. The best way to understand 5G is to realise it is more than just a faster, more efficient technology for mobile phones. What sets 5G apart from every earlier “G” is its ability to carry signals significantly faster. Latency – the time gap between a request for data being sent and the data being received – on 5G is reduced dramatically.
Penn said skepticism about the potential for new mobile technologies has been a common theme with each evolution. “Before 2G it was hard to conceive of the mobile phone becoming a mass market device owned by billions of people. Before 3G, it was questionable that enough people would want to access the internet on their phones. And before 4G, it was a brave call to suggest enough people wanted access to HD video at all times,” he said.
“But in every one of these occasions the demand not only materialized it did so with remarkable speed and on a remarkable scale. Indeed, each new technology has been embraced more quickly than the last. 4G took just five years to reach 2.5 billion people, compared to eight years for 3G.”
According to some forecasts, 5G will enable $12 trillion in economic output globally and support the creation of 22 million jobs by 2035, Penn said.
He said from Telstra’s perspective the baseline business case for 5G is meeting rapidly growing demand for mobile data traffic and addressing ways to more efficiently meet these demands.
“On top of that we see incredibly exciting opportunities to open up new applications and services delivered over mobile using 5G – everything from IoT on a massive scale, to 4K and 8K video, to mission critical services, to remote robotics will be brought to a whole new level by 5G.”
Penn added that the full range of opportunities that will be enabled by 5G will not be clear when 5G capability is switched on. He said Telstra is investing heavily in 5G, including through the planned deployment of 200 5G-enabled sites across Australia by the end of the year, out of a belief that first-movers will enjoy the earliest and greatest benefits from adopting the technology.
About the Author:
Andrew Penn became Chief Executive Officer of Telstra on May 1, 2015 after serving as Telstra’s Chief Financial Officer and Group Executive International. Andrew is an experienced senior executive with a career spanning more than 30 years. Prior to joining Telstra, Andrew was with AXA Asia Pacific for 20 years where he held a number of positions including Group Chief Executive (2006-2011), Chief Executive Officer for Australia and New Zealand, Group Chief Financial Officer, Chief Executive for Asia and spent time based in Australia, Hong Kong, Thailand and Indonesia. Under Andrew’s leadership AXA built a successful Asian platform, which was sold to its parent company in 2011 for $10.4bn. In addition to his business activities, Andrew has contributed widely to not-for-profit and community organisations. He is Life Governor and Foundation Board member of Very Special Kids. He is also a member of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Advisory Council, The Big Issue Advisory Group, and an Amy Gillet Foundation Ambassador.
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3GPP Release 16, to be completed at the end of 2019, will meet the ITU-R IMT-2020 submission requirements and the time-plan as outlined in RP-172101:
From Sep 2018 to June 2019, targeting “Final” submission in June 2019
- Performance evaluation update by taking into account Rel-16 updates in addition to Rel-15
- Update description template and compliance template to take into account Rel-16 updates in addition to Rel-15
- Provide description template, compliance template, and self evaluation results based on Rel-15 and Rel-16 in June 2019.
Some Background on Release 16
- “Working towards full 5G in Rel-16″…See a webinar presentation (Brighttalk webinar)
- Preparing the ground for IMT-2020
- SA1 completes its study into 5G requirements
T-Mobile in $3.5B deal with Ericsson for “5G” Equipment; Offers extended range LTE in U.S. and Puerto Rico
Ericsson has signed a $3.5 billion multi-year deal with T-Mobile to provide the “un-carrier” with “5G” network equipment. It’s the biggest 5G order that Ericsson has announced to date. That is in addition to the $3.5 billion “5G” agreement that T-Mobile inked with Nokia back in July.
As it moves from LTE Advanced (true 4G) to whatever it envisions as 5G, T-Mobile will use the Ericsson portfolio of products. Ericsson will be providing T-Mobile with 5G New Radio (NR) hardware and 3GPP-compatible software. Ericsson’s digital services like dynamic orchestration, business support systems and Ericsson cloud core will be used to help T-Mobile roll out “5G” services to its customers.
“We have recently decided to increase our investments in the U.S. to be closer to our leading customers and better support them with their accelerated 5G deployments; thereby bringing 5G to life for consumers and enterprises across the country,” Niklas Heuveldop, President of Ericsson North America, said in a statement. “This agreement marks a major milestone for both companies. We are excited about our partnership with T-Mobile, supporting them to strengthen, expand and speed up the deployment of their nationwide 5G network.”
The partnership with Ericsson implies that T-Mobile’s installed base of Ericsson Radio Systems will be able to run 3GPP release 15 spec. 5G NR with a remote software installation.
Ericsson increased its market share of the mobile networks market in the second quarter, partly due to faster network upgrades in the North American, where it ranks as the biggest supplier ahead of Nokia.
T-Mobile, the third biggest U.S. mobile carrier, said in February it was working with Ericsson and rival network vendor Nokia of Finland to build out 5G networks in 30 U.S. cities during 2018.
“While the other guys just make promises, we’re putting our money where our mouth is. With this new Ericsson agreement we’re laying the groundwork for 5G – and with Sprint we can supercharge the 5G revolution,” said Neville Ray, T-Mobile’s Chief Technology Officer. (Note that the FCC says it needs more time to review the T-Mobile-Sprint merger).
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In an earlier announcement, T-Mobile says it has deployed 600 MHz (Band 71) Extended Range LTE in 1,254 cities and towns in 36 states, including the island of Puerto Rico. The Un-carrier’s furiously paced deployment of 600 MHz LTE is expanding network coverage and capacity, particularly in rural areas, and lays the foundation for nationwide 5G in 2020 with 5G-ready equipment.
T-Mobile’s Extended Range LTE signals travel twice as far from the tower and are four times better in buildings than mid-band LTE, providing increased coverage and capacity. The Un-carrier has already deployed Extended Range LTE to more than 80 percent of Americans with 700 MHz (Band 12), and rapidly began deploying it with 600 MHz (Band 71) last year to expand coverage and capacity even further.
In April 2017, T-Mobile made its largest network investment ever, tripling its low-band spectrum holdings by purchasing spectrum sold in the US government’s 600 MHz auction. Those licenses cover 100% of the US, including Puerto Rico. Immediately after receiving the licenses, T-Mobile began its rapid 600 MHz Extended Range LTE rollout. To accelerate the process of freeing up the spectrum for LTE, T-Mobile is working with broadcasters occupying 600 MHz spectrum to assist them in moving to new frequencies.
IHS Markit: Microwave Network Equipment Market -1%; YoY; 5G to Boost Growth
By Richard Webb, associate director of research and analysis, service provider technology, IHS Markit
Highlights:
- The total worldwide microwave network equipment market declined by 5 percent quarter over quarter – and by 1 percent year over year – in the second quarter of 2018 (Q2 2018), falling to $1.03 billion.
- Revenue in the second quarter was comprised of 80 percent backhaul, 7 percent transport and 13 percent access. Also within revenue, 16 percent was dual Ethernet/TDM, 71 percent was Ethernet only, 2 percent was V-band millimeter wave and 11 percent was E-band millimeter wave.
- Regionally, 10 percent of revenue in the second quarter came from North America, 39 percent from Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA), 37 percent from Asia Pacific, and 13 percent from Caribbean and Latin America (CALA).
- Ericsson (see Addendum) led the microwave network equipment market share ranking with 21.6 percent of revenue, followed by Huawei at 18.6 percent, Nokia at 12.5 percent, NEC at 10.6 percent, Ceragon at 8.5 percent, Aviat Networks at 4.2 percent, SIAE at 4 percent and ZTE at 3.8 percent.
IHS Markit Analysis:
Microwave equipment market declines in the second quarter of 2018 followed a stronger-than-expected first quarter, with second half of the year expected to be flat-to-slightly up.
Aside from performance by individual vendors, the market has been slow over the last two years. Mobile operators are typically cash conservative, and many operators in developed markets have undergone most of their backhaul upgrades for LTE. Although upgrades for LTE-A and LTE-Pro (and late-phase LTE deployment in developing regions) prop up the market, the early shoots of growth driven by 5G are now visible and will gain momentum over the next two to three years.
In the long term, the market will get an injection from 5G upgrades, driven by demand for higher-capacity backhaul combined with growing traction for outdoor small cell deployments. Although market growth will be muted in the short term, these drivers will push the market back to revenue growth in 2019 and beyond.
The effect of 5G on the microwave equipment market will be mainly felt in two ways:
- Backhaul and fronthaul for mobile broadband: Increased capacity requirements for macrocells and small cells or remote radio heads to deliver high-speed mobile broadband connectivity.
- Fixed-wireless access: In-home broadband for consumers, utilizing millimeter wave as a wireline (DSL/cable/fiber) equivalent, to deliver high-speed fixed broadband connectivity.
SDN, NFV and network slicing will impact transport networks over the next few years. Although they will make backhaul more flexible, they do not reduce the need for equipment at the endpoint of the backhaul link. However, the fact that SDN enables coordination between the radio access network (RAN) and backhaul network to optimize traffic and allocated network resources, is likely to strengthen the opportunity for microwave vendors with RAN portfolios to increase market share. Over the past few years, the market has been experiencing some consolidation among microwave-only specialists.
Microwave Network Equipment Quarterly Market Tracker:
The “Microwave Network Equipment Market Tracker” examines the vendors, markets and trends related to wireless radio equipment that uses microwave to transmit digital or analog signals between two locations on a radio path. The report tracks Ethernet, TDM microwave, Dual Ethernet/TDM microwave, and V-Band and E-Band millimeter wave equipment by spectrum, capacity, form factor, architecture and line of sight.
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Addendum:
Huawei Launches the Industry’s First 5G Microwave Equipment at MWC 2018
Verizon & Nokia demo “5G NR” transmission on a “commercial network”
Verizon and Nokia have completed the first over-the-air, end-to-end “5G NR” data transmission on a commercial 3GPP 5G New Radio (NR) network, the companies announced. The transmission was between commercially deployed Nokia radio equipment and Verizon’s 5G network core and millimeter wave spectrum to a Nokia test van parked in the downtown area of Washington, D.C.
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Editor’s Note:
“5G NR” is based on 3GPP release 15 spec, whereas it’s 3GPP release 16 (with parts of release 15) which will be submitted as a candidate IMT 2020 Radio Interface Technology (RIT) at the July 2019 ITU-R WP 5D meeting. Also, we don’t consider an end to end transmission using only Nokia endpoint terminals a “commercial network,” which is one in which there are many paying customers and endpoint terminals from several vendors (not just Nokia).
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Verizon and Nokia said that the transmission was another of their ongoing demonstrations of 5G NR technology. They expect to launch commercial 5G mobile service in 2019. In June, the two companies completed a series of outdoor data sessions over the 5G NR standard, and used multi-carrier aggregation to boost those signals into the gigabit-per-second range. Last month, Verizon and Nokia said they completed the first successful transmission of a 3GPP NR 5G signal to a receiver in a moving vehicle.“The cadence and frequency of these significant milestone achievements from Verizon and Nokia show just how quickly we’re taking the promise of 5G technology from the lab to the field and to the marketplace where our customers will ultimately use this revolutionary technology,” said Bill Stone, Verizon vice president, technology development and planning, in a prepared statement. “We said Verizon will be first to 5G, and our latest milestone moves us closer to fulfilling that promise.”
“Nokia and Verizon have had a tremendous summer for 5G innovations and technology advancements,” said Marc Rouanne, Nokia president mobile networks, in a prepared statement. “We are thrilled to be on the forefront of this new technology, helping Verizon make yet another significant stride towards becoming the first-mover to the market.”
The announcement followed Verizon and Nokia last month transmitting a pre-standard 5G signal between two radio sectors to a moving vehicle, calling the successful trial a “major 5G milestone”.
Verizon earlier announced it would launch 5G residential broadband service in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Houston and Indianapolis, in the second half of this year (based on Verizon’s proprietary spec), to be followed by a mobile 5G solution. That’s all before the ITU-R IMT 2020 standards are finalized in late 2020.
References:
https://www.telecompetitor.com/verizon-claims-first-5g-nr-data-transmission-on-a-commercial-network/
https://www.zdnet.com/article/verizon-trials-5g-in-washington-dc-with-nokia/
