According to a newly published report by Dell’Oro Group the point-to-point microwave transmission market is forecast to exceed $6 billion by 2015 as demand for mobile backhaul will drive radio transceiver shipments to reach nearly 3 million units.
The largest market for microwave equipment is expected to be the Europe, Middle East and Africa regions, where approximately half of market revenues during the forecast period will come from.
“The transition away from TDM is underway, driving a strong demand for Ethernet based microwave links for mobile backhaul,” said Jimmy Yu, Sr. Director of Microwave Transmission research at Dell’Oro Group.
“We’re forecasting Ethernet based hybrid and packet links to grow at an average annual rate of 20% a year until transceiver shipments reach 3 million units in 2015. We think this growth will be driven by a mobile network upgrade to 4G radio technologies that consume 4 to 5 times the backhaul capacity of 3G, and the proliferation of new entrants building cell sites to deliver mobile broadband services,” Yu added.