June 22, 2009

Report: Cell Base Station Revenue to Drop 22 Percent

After years of rapid growth, the worldwide cellular base station market revenue will decline 22 percent in 2009, with shipments falling from the high levels of the 3G rollout frenzy of the last few years, according to In-Stat's "Five-Year Cellular Macro Station Forecast." Declining base station shipments are one clear reason for the revenue decline. However, intense competition from Chinese equipment manufacturers ZTE and Huawei have pressured base station selling prices, as operators demand that infrastructure manufacturers decrease costs.

The research also indicates the following:

• Base stations enabled for LTE will exceed 166,000 by 2013.

• Deployed WCDMA base stations will exceed 1 million by 2012.

• New LTE base station revenue in Eastern Europe will be nearly $700 million in 2013.

• The last unit shipments of CDMA2000 1X RTT base stations will occur in 2009, with fewer than 1,200 new base stations being deployed. All future CDMA base station shipments will be EV-DO.

• Shipments of new GSM base stations should remain strong for a few more years.