EJL Wireless Research Reports Global Macrocell RU/AAU Shipments Declined 7% in 2022

Salem, NH September 25, 2023:  Worldwide shipments of radio units (RU) and active antenna units (AAU) for mobile wireless networks across all generations and air interfaces declined by 7% in 2022 from 2021 levels, according to the latest report from EJL Wireless Research titled “Global Macrocell Radio Unit/Active Antenna Unit (RU/AAU) Market Analysis and Forecast, 2023-2027 5th Edition.” “Massive MIMO AAU shipments increased 45% in 2022 however this was not enough to offset a 20% decline in non-massive MIMO RUs,” says founder and President, Earl Lum. EJL Wireless Research is forecasting near to mid-term weakness for the radio market as demand weakens in China, offsetting strong shipment growth in India. Our current view for 2023 RU/AAU shipments is for a decline of 13% as 5G NR massive MIMO AAU shipments overtake legacy LTE/UMTS/GSM RU shipments.

“The continued evolution of the RU products from single band to dual/triple band products is driving the decline in overall 4T4R RUs shipments. While the combined 4T4R segment remained the largest at 60% share in 2022, we expect share gains from the 64T64R massive MIMO segment in 2023 to reach near parity in 2023,” says Lum.

“Within the Open RAN/vRAN compliant radio market, the traditional correlation of RU/AAU vendor to DU/BBU vendor becomes blurry as some mobile operators mix/match radio solutions with varying degrees of success. We do not expect to see complete radio performance parity of Open RAN RU/AAU solutions with purpose built solutions in the near/mid-term of our forecast and possibly never,” says Lum.■