Operators to spend $3.3 billion on LTE basestations in 2011, says ABI Research

Wireless operators are expected to spend about $3.3 billion on LTE basestation equipment in 2011 – equivalent to installing some 142,000 basestations worldwide − according to a new report from ABI Research. Furthermore, spending on LTE basestation equipment is expected to rise sharply between 2011and the end of 2012.

Although sites and even masts and cabinets may be shared with existing networks, the different frequencies and air interface standards mean that all the radio equipment will be newly built. In addition the different propagation characteristics will mean that extra sites will need to be deployed to maximise coverage, according to ABI Research vice president Jake Saunders, but he did not specify whether these would be standard macrocells or smaller picocells or femtocells.

"Vendors will be shipping basestation equipment in significant quantities in 2010 ahead of limited trials that typically last about a year, followed by full commercial launches," added senior analyst Nadine Manjaro. "

Some equipment contracts have already been announced − Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, and Starent have all received contracts from Verizon Wireless, while in NTT-DoCoMo in Japan is supporting local vendors NEC and Fujitsu in addition to buying from Ericsson, the world's largest network infrastructure supplier.

TeliaSonera has chosen Ericsson and Huawei, while its fellow Scandinavian operators Tele2 and Telenor are also thought likely to settle on Huawei.

"There may be a new opportunity here for Nokia Siemens Networks," notes Manjaro. "Nortel was early to market with LTE base station equipment, but its bankruptcy pre-empted that market push. With NSN's acquisition of Nortel's LTE assets, it is well placed to benefit from that early market presence."