OSP Central - International Update

"Mobile data continues pushing the mobile wireless infrastructure industry and the point-to-point microwave industry as wireless carriers build out robust, data optimized networks," said Andy Fuertes of Visant Strategies. "But like the mobile infrastructure industry the PTP industry is undergoing transformation and consolidation."

Competitive pressure in the mobile infrastructure market, the study finds, is expected to result in additional divestment of PTP product lines by base station vendors in the coming years. These could be absorbed by existing independent PTP vendors.

"PTP radio revenues grew 8% in 2011 from 2010 due mainly to continued upgrades to mobile backhaul networks," said Larry Swasey of Visant Strategies. "Data demand in leading wireless nations is key, but mobile operators in emerging markets are also opting to upgrade backhaul links at least at key aggregation points for future data demand."

Visant Strategies foresees an overall market growth of 6% in 2012.
Demand from and changing product attributes within mobile backhaul, the study finds, accounts for the near completion of the shift from TDM radios to TDM/Ethernet. TDM radios presently account for less than 20% of sales and this share is expected to decline further. Ethernet-only-radio sales, expected to increase over the long term due to deployment of IP radio standards such as LTE, have shown slow growth to date.

Enterprise applications showed 7.3% growth in 2011, a trend that is expected to continue into 2012, while trunking, broadcast, Last Mile, and public safety applications remained relatively flat during 2011.

The report includes through 2016 annual PTP sales and revenues, shipments and revenues by capacity, traffic type, frequency, application as well as shipments and revenues for PTP use in mobile backhaul. Base station and aggregation point deployments are given with backhaul capacity per base station and tower along with the market share for each PTP vendor.