The Golden LTE-U Opportunity

LTE-U to grow from less than $75M in 2017 to about $1.25B in 2022

News provided by

Jul 12, 2017, 08:35 ET

CAMPBELL, Calif., July 12, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mobile Experts has just released their latest report, which clarifies the messy, complicated world of Unlicensed LTE. This report provides a comprehensive forecast for Carrier Wi-Fi, LAA, LWA, and LTE-U deployment. The study covers an exhaustive cost analysis for each scenario involving mobile operators, cable operators, OTT players, and enterprises.

Carrier Unlicensed/Shared Spectrum Access Equipment Revenue

Readers will find that the impact of LTE-U on the enterprise Wi-Fi market is covered in detail, along with multiple possible scenarios for CBRS systems in the USA. Mobile Experts describes why Wi-Fi has been unsatisfactory—especially for mobile operators who seek better control of wireless services running over the unlicensed bands. As the market has matured, LTE-based unlicensed technologies including LAA and LWA are beginning to make some bigger ripples.

"With the rise of unlicensed LTE technology use, especially LTE-U/LAA, Mobile Experts forecasts that the LTE-based technologies will represent almost 80% of the $1.6B Carrier Wi-Fi and LTE-U market in 2022," commented Principal Analyst at Mobile Experts, Kyung Mun. "To be clear, we see a major shift away from Wi-Fi investment in the carrier markets, but the enterprise Wi-Fi market will not be heavily impacted by LTE-U."

This five-year forecast of access points provides multiple technical, regional, and business level breakdowns for detailed insight into the LTE-U opportunity. Mobile Experts reports that with the forecasted deployment of LTE-based technologies in the unlicensed and shared bands, the overall 'LTE-U and Carrier Wi-Fi' market is poised to grow at about 20% CAGR (2017-2022) to reach $1.6 B in 2022. Excluding Carrier Wi-Fi, the LTE-based portion of the unlicensed access market is expected to grow from less than $75 M in 2017 to about $1.25B in 2022.

The new study reveals that a battle is rising over the new CBRS band in the United States. With novel licensing rules to foster spectrum sharing, the CBRS band has garnered strong interest from myriad stakeholders including cable operators, mobile operators, and OTT/neutral host service providers. While possible rule changes may raise a barrier to entry for smaller players, CBRS small cell deployments are expected in 2018-2019 timeframe by the cable operators and possibly some mobile operators as well.

"The unlicensed and shared spectrum technology represents a 'fracking moment' for the mobile industry. Just as the oil industry has revitalized abandoned oil fields through the lower-cost fracking technology, the unlicensed and shared spectrum technologies offer lower economics towards 'Gigabit LTE' services, especially for those operators with limited licensed spectrum holdings," remarked Principal Analyst Kyung Mun.

Companies profiled in the report include:

Accuris Networks
Adtran
Aerohive
Alepo
Altai Technologies
Alvarion (Acquired by SuperCom)
Aptilo
Arris
Avaya
Boingo Wireless
Broadcom
Cablevision (Acquired by Altice)
Charter
China Mobile
Cisco
Comcast
Devicescape
Edgewater Wireless
Ericsson
Extreme Networks
Federated Wireless
FON
Fortinet (Meru)
Google
Huawei
HP Enterprise (Aruba)
Intel
Marvell
Mitel (AcquiredMavenir/Stoke)
Mediatek
Motorola Solutions
Nokia Networks (Acquired Alcatel-Lucent)
Peraso
Qualcomm
Republic Wireless
Ruckus Wireless (Acquired by Brocade, being sold to Arris)
Spidercloud
T-Mobile
Tropos (Acquired by ABB)
Ubiquiti Networks
Vivint
WeFi
Wi-Fi Alliance (WFA)
Wireless Broadband Alliance (WBA)
Xirrus

About Mobile Experts Inc.:
Mobile Experts provides insightful market analysis for the mobile infrastructure and mobile handset markets. Our analysts are true Experts, who remain focused on topics where each analyst has 20 years of experience or more. Research topics center on technology introduction for radio frequency (RF) and communications innovation. Recent publications focus on LTE-U, LPWA, RF Front Ends, DAS, Macro Base Station Transceivers, Small Cells, CRAN & VRAN, The Big Picture of IoT, Smart Utility Meters, https://mobile-experts.net/Home/Report/59 5G, and Mobile Edge Computing.