Mobile Backhaul to Reach $9 Billion by 2016

September 12, 2012

The Dell’Oro Group has updated its mobile backhaul five-year forecast report, which includes the networking and telecom industries, mobile backhaul (including transport and routers and switches) to reach $9 billion by 2016.

The transport portion of backhaul is expected to grow at a 2 percent compounded annual growth rate to $6 billion by 2016. Microwave will be used to backhaul over half of the sites. The router and switches in backhaul should grow at a 9 percent compounded annual growth rate to nearly $3 billion, and is expected to represent 30 percent of the mobile backhaul market by 2016. Following the rollout of macro cell sites for coverage, operators will deploy micro and pico cells or small cells for capacity in metro locations. The requirements for small cell backhaul are expected to favor non-line-of-site solutions.

“Demand for mobile backhaul is growing at a healthy pace as operators deploy additional cellular sites and upgrade to an all IP network,” said Jimmy Yu, vice president of mobile backhaul market research at Dell’Oro Group, in a company release. “Since mobile radios are carrying more packet data than voice circuits and an even greater amount in the future, we anticipate operators will continue to evolve their backhaul networks to increase throughput and efficiency with routers and switches at cell sites and network edge,” added Yu.