The overall Wireless Packet Core market grew 26% during the first quarter of 2014 versus the year-ago period, according to a new report from Dell’Oro Group. The higher growth portion of the market that is used to manage LTE wireless networks, called Evolved Packet Core (EPC), experienced significantly higher growth than the total market.
Some highlights:
- North American session growth jumped to over 250% of 4Q13 levels. This follows a slowdown in the third and fourth quarters of 2013.
- In the first quarter, nearly half of Service Provider bid responses required technical specifications for upcoming availability of Network Function Virtualization (NFV) capabilities from packet core vendors.
- Nokia took significant revenue share in the overall market, and is now ranked #3 on a trailing four quarter revenue basis.
“As the service providers deploying LTE expand beyond the early movers in the US, Japan and Korea, we are seeing a shift in vendor shares towards those with exposure to other regions,” explained Chris DePuy, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group with responsibility for Wireless Packet Core coverage. “This has recently benefited Nokia in particular.”