[iGR]: U.S. Mobile Backhaul Demand will Grow @58% CAGR

 

iGR forecasts in a new study ("U.S. Mobile Backhaul Forecast: 2011-­2016" - here)  that "the demand for U.S. mobile backhaul will grow at a CAGR of nearly 58 percent between 2011 and 2016, with the overall demand growing by 9.7 times. And the growth of fiber backhaul, the preferred method for providing mobile backhaul, is expected to reach a CAGR of nearly 85 percent over the same period" 

  

Iain Gillott (pictured), president and founder of iGR said: “Just as the radio networks are transitioning from 3G to 4G and adding more small cells, so the mobile operators must also upgrade their mobile backhaul from legacy TDM to Ethernet .. The upgrade of the mobile backhaul networks presents a significant opportunity for cable MSOs, IP equipment and infrastructure vendors, tower companies, and the telecommunications services providers”.

Related posts:

• [Juniper Research]: MNOs Need to Spend $840B By 2016 on Backhaul - here 
• [Dell'Oro Group]: Mobile Backhaul Market to Reach $9B by 2015 - here
• Yankee Group: Average Cell Backhaul Bandwidth will Grow to 100 Mbps by 2015 - here
• Infonetics: Mobile Backhaul - Ethernet vs. Microwave - Market Size - here

See "U.S. Mobile Backhaul demand forecast to grow more than nine times in the next four years" - here.

Yankee Group: Average Cell Backhaul Bandwidth will Grow to 100 Mbps by 2015

     

The Yankee Group provides the following forecast for mobile backhaul:

• Average macrocell backhaul requirements were 10 Mbps in 2008 (seven T1s, five E1s). In less than three years, they have more than tripled to 35 Mbps in 2011, and by 2015, Yankee Group predicts they will demand 100 Mbps.
   
• There were 2.4 million macro cell site backhaul connections worldwide in 2010, growing to 3.3 million by [2015?]

Yankee's new research conclude:

"The market for wholesale backhaul services in North America will grow from $2.45 billion in 2010 to $3.9 billion in 2015, with the majority of this growth coming from Ethernet backhaul. Successful backhaul service providers will be those that can demonstrate price/performance and reliability, have software tools in place and can meet the specific needs of the mobile market.

See "Wholesale Mobile Backhaul: There's Gold in Them There Hauls" - here.

Infonetics: Mobile Backhaul - Ethernet vs. Microwave - Market Size

  
After seeing so much information on mobile data traffic growth in general and on the mobile backhaul network segment in particular, we see how it impacts backhaul equipment sales.

A recent research from Infonetics Research "Ethernet mobile backhaul equipment on track for big spike in 2010" (here) provides the numbers for one of the fast-growing technologies, used to accommodate the data explosion - Ethernet-based mobile backhaul.
 

"Last year Ethernet-based mobile backhaul equipment sales jumped 36% year-over-year, to $4.8 billion, representing 80% of total backhaul spend. We expect Ethernet spending to spike again in 2010 and growth to continue for many years .. about 100 operators around the world are now actively deploying a single IP-Ethernet backhaul to carry all traffic," explains Michael Howard, principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics Research.

In addition, Infonetics finds that:

• Between 2010 and 2014, service providers are expected to spend a cumulative $36B worldwide on mobile backhaul equipment
   
• Infonetics expects revenue from microwave Ethernet mobile backhaul equipment to jump 367% in 2010 over 2009
   
• Ethernet cell site routers and gateways posted double- and triple-digit percent revenue increases in 2009 and are expected to continue growing year-over-year at least through 2014

In parallel, an Infonetics report on microwave equipment finds that ".. The current ‘pause for breath’ in the microwave equipment market will end as more operators upgrade their networks to HSPA+ and LTE, creating a need for enhanced mobile backhaul bandwidth, and in turn, for microwave equipment. We expect renewed year-on-year growth in the microwave market in 2011 through at least 2014," predicts Richard Webb, directing analyst for WiMAX, microwave, and mobile devices at Infonetics Research.

See "Microwave equipment market dips 4% in Q2; on track for steady growth 2011–on" - here.

Maybe of the following could be saved by implementing traffic management solutions such as intelligent policy-based cell congestion (here), or signaling reduction (here) solutions?