The communications industry has changed during the past few years, and quite dramatically. Wireless communication continues to be a hot area for telecom suppliers. Because these services offer users a number of added benefits, demand from businesses as well as consumers continues to rise, leading to a corresponding increase in demand for wireless infrastructure. Equipment providers have responded to these changes with a raft of new products, including base stations, operational software, and network switches. Also, consumer manufacturers have been building new video phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), and laptop computer extensions.
According to a soon-to-be-released updated report from Business Communications Company, Inc, RG-246R Worldwide Wireless Infrastructure Expenditures, the worldwide wireless infrastructure expenditure is currently estimated at $177.5 billion. Expected to grow at an AAGR (average annual growth rate) of 2.5%, this market will reach $201.2 billion by 2009.
The revenue generated is divided into four principal sections: WAN hardware (e.g., cellular, satellite, and cable modem products), wireless LANs, end-user devices (e.g., PDAs, cell phones, and notebook computers), and business software, which includes enterprise resource planning, billing, and security products. The numbers included in these areas focus only on purchases made to support wireless connections and therefore are subset categories of broader categories like PDA and wireless LAN sales.
The two largest segments in the market are WAN hardware and end-user devices, which is not surprising. WAN hardware will see an AAGR of 1.8% as carriers move to 3G-generation technology and begin to deliver more video transmissions over their networks. End-user devices account for more than half of the revenue generated and represent an area of intense innovation; the growth rate there is a bit lower because of price pressures found in consumer markets. The fastest growing segment is WLANs, which are just now entering a rapid ramp-up phase, where technologies move from tools for technology-savvy individuals into the consumer market, a trend underscored by the growing interest in home networking.
In the telecommunications marketplace, the most significant growth and highest level of interest is coming from the wireless space. Increasingly, businesses are outfitting their employees with PDAs, cellular connections, and laptops that connect to wireless LANs. The result is growth in a number of categories: wide area network hardware, wireless LANs, end-user devices and software. This report is designed to help those interested in or participating in the wireless market to understand its vast and growing size, as well as to identify just how many IT market segments are being impacted by wireless communications.
