The global carrier WiFi equipment revenue increased 23% to reach US$336 million in the second half of 2014 compared to the first half of 2014, according to Infonetics. The increase in spending is driven largely by deployments made by Tier 1 mobile operators such as China Mobile as Operators continue leveraging Wi-Fi hotspots to offload traffic and enhance quality of service. Infonetics expects this trend to accelerate in coming years as Operators begin to deploy small cells integrated WiFi on a bigger scale. These deployments are expected to contribute to a boom in the carrier WiFi market which the firm forecasts to reach a growth figure of 88% for this year.
According to Infonetics, access points made up the bulk of carrier WiFi revenue in 2014, while WiFi controllers accounted for 22 percent of sales. Within the access points segment, Infonetics says that SIM-based WiFi access points have rapidly overtaken WiFi hotspot access points as the highest volume segment. The 802.11ac access points which support the Hotspot 2.0 contributed 17 percent to last year’s second half revenue for the segment and are expected to drive hotspot upgrade expenditures through at least 2019.
Richard Webb, research director for mobile backhaul and small cells at Infonetics Research
Several strong growth factors are feeding the rapid acceleration of the carrier WiFi market. In addition to the demand for offload and broadband enhancement, there are technology innovations such as 802.11ac and Hotspot 2.0, and service opportunities like data analytics, location-based services and WiFi roaming that are driving deployment.
