- The growth of smallcells deployments worldwide to complement the macro base stations for indoor and high density coverage area is leading to more cost effective direct backhaul and fronthaul transport systems. The millimeter wave technology that operates on unlicensed V-band (57–64GHz), licensed E-band (70–90GHz), and W-band (75–110GHz) is fast becoming a viable solution in this segment. Infonetics Research projects the overall millimeter wave equipment market to grow to $755 million by 2018, driven mainly by the outdoor small cell backhaul segment.
- Infonetics Research, a leading market researh firm via its latest Millimeter Wave Equipment report, highlighted that the licensed E-band 70–90GHz equipment accounted for 93% of millimeter wave sales in the first half of 2014 and 90% of millimeter wave equipment revenue during that period came from mobile backhaul applications, up from 85% in the second half of 2013.
- The outdoor small cell backhaul segment of the millimeter wave equipment market is forecast by Infonetics to outpace all other segments of the market, growing at a 101% CAGR from 2013 to 2018. Infonetics expects the market growth to attract mainstream microwave vendors to move into the segment, which is currently dominated by E-Band Communications, NEC, and Siklu (in alphabetical order).
Although the millimeter wave market is still modest in scale at this point, the enhanced capacity capabilities delivered by this technology will be invaluable as a backhaul aggregation solution for small cell deployments as they scale up. We expect millimeter wave to play a significant role in outdoor small cell backhaul, which will become the primary long-term market driver.
- Richard Webb, directing analyst for mobile backhaul and small cells at Infonetics Research
