Total cumulative spending on telecom and datacom network equipment for the next five years will exceed $1 trillion, Infonetics predicts.
Infonetics principal analyst Jeff Wilson said the telecom and datacom networking equipment and software market is on track to grow annually through 2018, with the strongest growth coming in 2015.
The steady growth is expected “despite the fact that enterprises and service providers are in the middle of massive network upheavals due to the evolution of SDN and NFV technology.”
Worldwide telecom and datacom networking gear revenue grew to $183 billion in 2013, according to the research firm.
The top vendors in the total market are in order Cisco, Huawei, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, and ZTE. The vendors have maintained roughly the same market share as a year earlier.
But according to Infonetics co-founder Michael Howard, “Looking at just the service provider equipment space, we’re seeing a shakeup in vendor market share, with Huawei leapfrogging longtime number-one Ericsson to take the top spot in 2013.”
China’s economy is a key factor keeping Huawei’s growth so strong, although the vendor has been doing well in a number of regions, he said.