A report from ABI Research says base station shipments will be up 14% year-on-year in 2011, with next year’s forecast already looking good. Much of this expansion is due to activity in two countries: China and the USA. Chinese network operators are expected to more than double the number of 3G subscribers by the end of 2011, while US operators are investing in 4G.
Jim Eller, principal analyst for wireless infrastructure at ABI Research, said “Existing networks are struggling to cope with the surge in data traffic, so operators are forced to increase capacity. However, operators are finding new revenue opportunities with mobile data, which more than compensate for decreasing voice revenues, so they are expecting good returns on this investment.”
[Wireless Infrastructure Market Data report]