3G WCDMA Base Station Prospects Improving

US : Even though total base-station deployments have been declining for some time, vendors of WCDMA and CDMA2000 1x base stations have reason to smile.

The latest forecast from ABI Research suggests that while the overall long-term prognosis for the wireless base station market remains pessimistic, the outlook for two air interfaces—WCDMA and CDMA2000 1xEV-DO—is improving compared to recent assessments. In fact, base station deployments for these interfaces are actually on the upswing worldwide.

Lance Wilson, the firm's Director, Mobile Wireless Research, notes that the improved deployment forecasts are based on progress made by the two technologies in key markets, and reflect higher capital expenditures by mobile operators. "The business climate for those technologies, driven by the growing traction of wireless data services, is improving," he says, "and will continue to do so for most of our forecast period."

The data are presented in "The Ongoing Quest for More Capable, Compact and Cost Effective Base Stations" the latest Wireless Base Station Market Update release of the ABI Research Wireless Infrastructure Research Service.

Base station designs, based on cost, performance and physical size, are being driven by the current needs of service providers. Two examples of this new generation of base station are profiled in this update: Alcatel's "Evolium 9100 MSB" series, and Nokia's "Flexi WCDMA" BTS. "We focused on these particular models," says Wilson, "because they illustrate service providers' changing expectations about what they want from a base station."

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