Industry News
The global RAN market continues to be under pressure
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Author : JIUZHOU
Update time : 2025-03-21 10:41:23
Since its peak in 2022, the global wireless access network (RAN) market has dropped sharply for two years. In 2024, revenue will be nearly $9 billion less than the peak in 2021.
The market continues to shrink, and structural challenges intensify
Reports say that after the peak of 5G construction from 2017 to 2021, the global RAN market's revenue dropped. It continued to decline in 2024, with annual revenue down by about $9 billion from the peak in 2021.
The main reasons for the market shrinkage include:
1. Regional demand imbalance: In 2024, India's market demand dropped sharply compared to the previous year. North America, Europe, and parts of Asia-Pacific remained under pressure.
2. Weakened 5G investment momentum: The revenue boost from expanding coverage decreased. Operators saw slower data traffic growth and tighter budgets.
3. Technology cycle transition: The fast drop in LTE revenue balanced out 5G investment. Also, 5G-Advanced technology did not start a new wave of spending.
The vice president of a certain group pointed out:
"The current market is facing the most severe decline in nearly 20 years. The main problem is that after the coverage expansion, there will be a lot of uncertainty. This uncertainty will be about the capacity upgrade cycle.
-China: RAN revenue will decline in 2024, and negative growth is expected to continue until 2025;
-India: Demand will shrink sharply in 2024, dragging down the performance of the Asia-Pacific market;
-Middle East, Africa, and Latin America: Local growth cannot stop the overall decline. We will see double-digit declines in many quarters in 2024.
Long-term outlook: Cloud transformation and 6G budding become key variables
The report predicts that the global RAN market will grow at a rate between 0% and -2% over the next five years. However, structural changes will speed up.
The market continues to shrink, and structural challenges intensify
Reports say that after the peak of 5G construction from 2017 to 2021, the global RAN market's revenue dropped. It continued to decline in 2024, with annual revenue down by about $9 billion from the peak in 2021.
The main reasons for the market shrinkage include:
1. Regional demand imbalance: In 2024, India's market demand dropped sharply compared to the previous year. North America, Europe, and parts of Asia-Pacific remained under pressure.
2. Weakened 5G investment momentum: The revenue boost from expanding coverage decreased. Operators saw slower data traffic growth and tighter budgets.
3. Technology cycle transition: The fast drop in LTE revenue balanced out 5G investment. Also, 5G-Advanced technology did not start a new wave of spending.
The vice president of a certain group pointed out:
"The current market is facing the most severe decline in nearly 20 years. The main problem is that after the coverage expansion, there will be a lot of uncertainty. This uncertainty will be about the capacity upgrade cycle.
-China: RAN revenue will decline in 2024, and negative growth is expected to continue until 2025;
-India: Demand will shrink sharply in 2024, dragging down the performance of the Asia-Pacific market;
-Middle East, Africa, and Latin America: Local growth cannot stop the overall decline. We will see double-digit declines in many quarters in 2024.
Long-term outlook: Cloud transformation and 6G budding become key variables
The report predicts that the global RAN market will grow at a rate between 0% and -2% over the next five years. However, structural changes will speed up.
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