ABI Research is the second research firm in the space of a week to reveal wireless infrastructure revenues declined year-on-year in the third quarter.
The firm states infrastructure sales in 3Q12 fell 10.3% year-on-year to $11.3 billion, and predicts the market will decline 10% overall in 2012 despite a potential rebound in the fourth quarter.
Mobile networks practice director, Aditya Kaul, forecasts the full year decline will “cause market share shifts, especially in the top three.”
The top three at end-3Q12 remained Huawei, Ericsson and Nokia Siemens respectively. However, there was evidence of the changes Kaul predicts during the period, with NSN’s share of RAN revenues growing faster than its rivals to leave the firm with a share of 22.4% - close to Ericsson’s 22.9%. Huawei’s share, meanwhile, fell 15.2% quarter on quarter, leaving the firm on a 24.3% overall share.
Rival research firm Dell’Oro released similar figures a few days before ABI, stating total RAN revenues fell 11% year-on-year in 3Q12. One reason for the fall is lower sales of 2G and 3G kit, however LTE RAN revenues were up year-on-year.