The global mobile infrastructure market fell 10% in 2016 to $43 million as LTE equipment sales started winding down, according to IHS Markit.
Revenues were dragged down by all regions, and particularly China, the research firm said. Sales of 2G, 3G and 4G network software grew a mere 2% during the year to $15.5 billion, with growth mostly driven by LTE-Advanced upgrades.
During the fourth quarter, the market fared a little better, with total sales growing 7% sequentially thanks to strong activity in Asian markets including India, Myanmar and Vietnam. But this still represented a 14% year-on-year decline.
LTE sales improved 6% for the quarter but were down 16% for the year, in a result which IHS Markit said demonstrates that the market has well and truly entered the post-LTE-peak era.
The research firm added that it does not expect early 5G rollouts to be enough to push the overall market back into growth territory in the short term. But by 2021, the company expects the global 5G mobile infrastructure market to be worth around $2.25 billion.
“In the battle for market share, Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia nabbed the top three spots in 2016,” IHS Markit senior research director and advisor for mobile infrastructure and carrier economics Stéphane Téral said.
“The Chinese vendors were hit by the decline in China, a market where they are the most exposed. “