88% Jump Expected in Carrier WiFi Gear

According to Infonetics Research, operator spending, particularly by large tier 1 operators, drove global carrier WiFi equipment revenue to $336 million in the second half of 2014, up 23% over the first half of 2014. Infonetics expects a big annual jump - 88% - in the carrier WiFi market in 2015.

The research house pointed to several growth factors for carrier WiFi, including demand for offload and broadband enhancement, 802.11ac and Hotspot 2.0, and data analytics, location-based services and WiFi roaming. Other findings indicate:

• For the full year 2014, the global carrier WiFi equipment market grew 16%.
• Access points made up the bulk of carrier WiFi revenue in 2014, while WiFi controllers accounted for 22% of sales.
• 802.11ac access points contributed 17% to 2H14 WiFi access point revenue and are expected to drive hotspot upgrade expenditures through at least 2019.
• SIM-based WiFi access points have rapidly overtaken WiFi hotspot access points as the highest volume segment.
• The carrier WiFi market share leaders for 2014 are, in alphabetical order, Cisco, Huawei and Ruckus.