The global mobile infrastructure market is stalling despite the increase in demand for LTE infrastructure, according to the latest figures.
In the first three months of this year, sales of 2G/3G/4G equipment have fallen by nine percent on Q4 2012 and two percent year-on-year to €6.3 billion, Infonetics Research reports.
LTE revenue has seen a 21 percent quarter-over-quarter and a 108 percent year-on-year increase to €1.7 billion.
Demand for LTE infrastructure continues to be driven by North America and Europe, but Brazil, Russia, India and China are also picking up the pace, with Brazilian operators joining the Q1 revenue mix with LTE roll-outs.
“We are clearly seeing the broad shift to LTE and its direct effect on 2G, 3G, and WiMAX,” said Stéphane Téral, principal analyst for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics at Infonetics Research.
“Typically strong 2G and 3G markets, China in particular, did not come to the rescue this time around. In fact, China and Russia had a busy 1Q13 selecting LTE vendors. Life without LTE would be hell!”
Ericsson remains the leading RAN infrastructure provider, with double the revenue market share of its next biggest competitor Nokia Siemens Networks.