Worldwide femtocell and enterprise small cell equipment revenue reached $144 million in 1Q14, up 6% from 4Q13, according to a new report from Infonetics Research.
Overall, the femtocell and enterprise small cell equipment market has seen robust unit and revenue growth over the previous half-year period, and we remain optimistic that these small cell segments have sufficient market drivers and support among operators to sustain continuous year-over-year unit and revenue growth through 2018,” notes Richard Webb, directing analyst for mobile backhaul and small cells at Infonetics Research.
“4G macro network deployments are underway in many places, and operators are starting to launch 4G-based femtocells to augment mobile broadband services,” adds Webb. “Boosted by enterprise small cell adoption kicking in to help mobile operators support enterprise-specific voice and data offerings, we believe 4G femtocell and enterprise small cell revenue will climb to $2.3 billion in 2018, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 77 percent from 2013 to 2018.”
Some highlights:
- LTE femtocells, the highest ARPU products in the market, are a driving force behind revenue growth, though W-CDMA femtocells still make up the dominant proportion of unit shipments
- The residential segment led with 59% of femtocell revenue in 1Q14, ahead of the enterprise small cell segment
- These are distinct markets in their own right, and Infonetics expects to see increasing specialization from vendors and operators alike
- Integrated femtocells grew to 8% of total units in 1Q14 and are anticipated to account for about a third of unit shipments by 2018, predominantly into the residential segment
- Femtocell/enterprise small cell equipment revenue market share leaders in 1Q14 are, in alphabetical order, Airvana, Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, and ip.access