Report: Small cells will drive mobile backhaul market

Jan. 30, 2014
Mobile backhaul equipment market to reach $8 billion by 2018, says Dell'Oro Group.

In a new report, market research firm Dell'Oro Group asserts that the market for mobile backhaul equipment -- consisting of transport equipment as well as routers and switches -- will reach $8 billion by 2018. "Mobile backhaul will be a critical contributor to carrier microwave, routing, and switching growth over the next five years," says Jimmy Yu, vice president of mobile backhaul market research at Dell'Oro Group.

The analyst projects the market for routers and switches for mobile backhaul to grow at a compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) of 5%, and to compose nearly 35% of total mobile backhaul market revenue by 2018. The primary growth driver will be the shift to a packet-based backhaul network as operators roll out 4G LTE and LTE-advanced mobile services.

Dell'Oro's Yu adds, "We anticipate the pace of cell site deployments will gradually increase over this period as operators expand their LTE footprint and begin to roll out small cells. We also expect outdoor small cell backhaul to drive at least 10% of mobile backhaul revenue by 2018."

Dell’Oro forecasts the transport portion of mobile backhaul will grow at a 2% CAGR. The primary growth driver for transport will be the addition of new macro and small cell sites, along with the upgrade of any older low-capacity backhaul systems, the company believes.

Learn more about the report.

About the Author

Matt Vincent | Senior Editor

Matt Vincent is a B2B technology journalist, editor and content producer with over 15 years of experience, specializing in the full range of media content production and management, as well as SEO and social media engagement best practices, for both Cabling Installation & Maintenance magazine and its website CablingInstall.com. He currently provides trade show, company, executive and field technology trend coverage for the ICT structured cabling, telecommunications networking, data center, IP physical security, and professional AV vertical market segments. Email: [email protected]

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