Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE were the top two base station transceiver equipment vendors in 2013, with Chinese LTE rollouts contributing to record shipment volumes.
Huawei maintained its position at the top of the chart in 2013, but ZTE climbed two positions to take second place, according to a report from EJL Wireless Research. Together, Chinese vendors captured 62% of total shipments.
Total BTS transceiver volumes grew 87% in 2013 to record levels, with LTE accounting for 75% of total shipments. Overall LTE equipment sales grew 335% from 2012.
Equipment to support the recently TD-LTE network launches from China Mobile and from China Telecom accounted for a substantial portion of shipments. In demonstration, TD-LTE shipments exceeded FDD LTE shipments even though the latter remains by far the more widely used standard worldwide.
EJL said it expects Chinese LTE rollouts to continue to drive the overall market through to 2016.
Elsewhere in Asia-Pacific, EJL founder and president Earl Lum said the heavy bidding during India's recent $10 billion 900-MHz and 1800-MHz spectrum auction suggests that “that the market in India is poised for a comeback.”