Ericsson and Huawei Head-to-Head in RAN Market Share for 2012

Mobile infrastructure RAN revenues grew 17.4% sequentially in the fourth quarter of 2012 to reach almost $8.5 billion; 2.5% lower than the same quarter a year ago. For the whole year Ericsson and Huawei are closely matched in RAN market share with about 24% each, followed by Nokia Siemens Networks, Alcatel-Lucent, ZTE, Samsung, and NEC.

“In the fourth quarter of 2012 Ericsson picked up 3 points of market share, followed by Samsung and Nokia Siemens Networks. These gains came at the expense of Huawei who lost almost 5 points of share in the quarter,” says Nick Marshall, principal analyst at ABI Research.

Nokia Siemens Networks jumped to number 2 in RAN market share after number 1 ranked Ericsson in Q412, Huawei ranked number 3, and Alcatel-Lucent was 4th in the quarter.

For the full year the RAN market was squeezed in 2012, although the fourth quarter was up ahead of normal seasonality, the full year RAN market was down 10%.

These vendor market share trends are reversed for the whole year where Huawei and Samsung each gained almost 3 points of share and Alcatel-Lucent and Ericsson each lost share compared to full year 2011.

“Rankings for the full year place Ericsson and Huawei in the joint #1 position followed by Nokia Siemens Networks unchanged at number 3, Alcatel-Lucent unchanged at number 4 and ZTE at number 5,” continues Marshall.

Vendor revenues and market shares are tracked by ABI Research’s “Mobile Infrastructure RAN Market Shares: Q4'12 and Full Year 2012” Market Data. This quarterly market data report tracks base station deployments by technology, region, and country. The data also includes forecasts for new deployments, upgrades, and replacements annually through 2018, as well as operator base station spend estimates.

These findings are part of ABI Research’s Macro Basestations Research Service.

ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 70+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500 .