The economic downturn is likely to cause a slowdown in North American and European in-building wireless (IBW) deployments during 2009-10. ABI Research sees flat growth in those regions for '09-10, however typical 20-25% annual growth is expected to return by 2013. Buoyed by constant high growth rates in Asia-Pac and Middle East/Africa, IBW will post a very respectable worldwide revenue growth rate in excess of 21% over the same period.
The recession is global in scope: why are North America and Europe suffering more than other regions? The answer, says senior analyst Aditya Kaul, is partly in the scale: “In Europe and North America there is a greater proportion of large building deployments (500K sq. ft. and higher) and when those get postponed or scrapped, revenue is hit hard. NA and European operators have also seen their CAPEX being squeezed, which is not necessarily the case elsewhere. Also in APAC and Middle East/Africa cheaper passive systems and repeaters are deployed to a greater extent.”
In terms of IBW, some vertical industries fare better than others. In North America particularly, the hospitality and financial sectors have been affected badly. Shopping malls have slowed down as well. “IBW is intimately tied to the real estate market, especially new construction,” says Kaul. “As real estate for specific verticals slows there is bound to be some effect on IBW.”
In contrast, North American verticals such as healthcare are relatively unaffected. Healthcare is a mature market that has always shown strong growth, and continues to see a high demand for in-building systems that can support not just cellular but also VoWLAN, telemetry, location-based applications and electronic medical records. University campuses are also seeing large IBW activity with some universities investing in their own systems.
A new ABI Research study, “In-Building Wireless Systems” focuses mainly on DAS systems, but also explores how DAS can being used in conjunction with other IBW technologies such as repeaters, picocells and femtocells. It includes a regional breakdown of the in-building market by verticals, analysis of key market trends, and profiles of equipment vendors, carriers and system integrators including market share.
It is a component of two ABI Research Services, Business Mobility and Mobile Networks.
ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of emerging trends in global connectivity. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advise thousands of decision makers through 25 research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.
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