ABI Research says it expects the small cell backhaul equipment market to exceed US$4 billion in 2020. Millimeter wave technology, thanks to its large bandwidth, is the fastest growing technology in the analyst's latest forecast, outpacing the overall market with a very high growth through 2020.
Sub-6GHz technology is predicted to capture the largest share of small cell backhaul last mile links, also outperforming the total market by 2020. Traditional microwave equipment remains a top technology for small cell backhaul applications with a leading share of revenue and one-fourth share of links in 2020.
“We believe that 4G / LTE small cell solutions will again drive most of the microwave, millimeter wave, and sub 6GHz backhaul growth in metropolitan, urban, and suburban areas with backhaul for 4G / LTE small cells growing at double-digit rates and surpassing 3G in this year,” comments Nick Marshall, research director at ABI Research.
“The North American, European, and Asia-Pacific regions will all outperform the total market with double-digit growth between 2015 and 2020,” adds Marshall. Vendors such as Alcatel-Lucent, NEC, Ericsson, DragonWave, Ceragon, Aviat, CCS, Siklu, and Fastback / Sub10 are among the leading companies that stand to benefit from this growth, says the new report.
In new market data ABI Research provides small cell backhaul forecasts by technology, region and population density (urban, suburban and rural). These findings are part of ABI Research’s Transport for HetNets, IoT and 5G Market Research. Learn more.