EJL Wireless Research Reports Global Fronthaul OTRX Module Shipments Decline 8% in 2016

January 27, 2018

2016 revenues drop to USD $377 million

25G and 100G modules ready to support 4.9G/5G massive MIMO deployments

Salem, NH, January 26, 2018: Shipments of fronthaul optical transceiver (OTRX) modules declined 8% in 2016, reflecting the overall trend of remote radio unit (RRU) shipments, according to the inaugural report from EJL Wireless Research titled “Global Fronthaul Optical Transceiver (OTRX) Modules Market Analysis and Forecast, 2017-2021, 1st Edition.” “While the wireless industry continues to wait for 5G networks to be deployed, the RRU migration to 4×4 MIMO RRUs and massive MIMO antenna radio systems (MM-ARS) for LTE networks and 5G networks is driving a major data rate upgrade transition within the fronthaul market,” says founder and President, Earl Lum. EJL Wireless Research is forecasting that the global fronthaul OTRX module market will see shipments bottom in 2019 while revenues bottom in 2018 as the transition to 4.5G, 4.9G, and 5G technologies pulls the industry into its next growth cycle.

EJL Wireless Research forecasts that revenues for the fronthaul OTRX module market will reach USD $630 million by 2021, driven by volume shipments of 25G and 100G OTRX solutions in support of massive MIMO 5G networks.

“We forecast that the mobile network migration towards 4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro will provide demand pull for 6G OTRX modules in support of 4×4 MIMO using CPRI Option 5/OBSAI Option 4 data rates while massive MIMO solutions will require 25-100G of fronthaul bandwidth in support of higher order MIMO, carrier aggregation, and larger channel sizes,” says Lum. ■

EJL Wireless Research Reports Global Macrocell RRU/ARS Shipments Drop by 8% in 2016

January 18, 2018

Demand in 2017 to remain weak and outlook remains choppy due to Chinese LTE party hangover

4T4R RRUs capture 37% share by 2021 with 64T64R ARSs exceeding 25% of total shipments by 2021

Salem, NH October 9, 2017: Shipments of remote radio units (RRU) and antenna radio systems (ARS) dropped by 8% in 2016, according to the latest report from EJL Wireless Research titled “Global Macrocell RRU/ARS Market Analysis and Forecast, 2017-2021 1st Edition.” “We are excited to finally introduce the third product in our series of research reports focused on the macro cell market. The RRU/ARS report complements our existing radio transceiver (TRx), digital baseband unit (BBU), and base station antenna research,” says founder and President, Earl Lum. EJL Wireless Research is forecasting that the macrocell RRU/ARS market will see a 14% decline in shipments in 2017 due to lower CAPEX spending in China and Asia Pacific as well as softness in other regions.

“The market is in a reset mode and feeling the massive hangover from the Chinese LTE party. Uncertainty surrounding the business cases for 5G as well as future spectrum auctions is pushing mobile CAPEX trends to a negative bias. However, we expect that LTE refarming of 900MHz and 2100MHz spectrum supporting legacy 2G GSM and 3G UMTS services will be a major driver for 4T4R
RRUs during the next five years,” says Lum.

Mobile network migration towards 4.5G LTE-Advanced Pro will provide demand pull for 4T4R RRUs over the next several years as Tier 1 mobile operators upgrade their networks to support 4×4 MIMO. Additionally, 4.9G massive MIMO ARSs supporting FDD LTE 32T32R and TDD LTE 64T64R will begin to ship in commercial volumes in 2018. Finally, 5G NR mmWave massive MIMO ARSs will
see low volume commercial deployments by the end of 2017 and ramping through 2018.

“Within the category of 5G NR ARSs, we forecast that majority of shipments will be to support frequency spectrum below 6GHz such as 3.5GHz and 4.5GHz with mmWave-associated ARS shipments accounting for less than 10% share by 2021,” says Lum. ■

Month: January 2018