Exploding Data Traffic and Imminent TD-LTE Deployment Spur Market Demand for Wireless Test Equipment in China, Declares Frost & Sullivan

- Evolving Wireless Communication Standard and CAPEX from Operators to Pose Major Challenges to Market Development

BEIJING, May 9, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Increasing mobile data traffic and the application of mobile Internet continues to drive the wireless test equipment market in China. The home-grown time division long-term evolution (TD-LTE) standard offers more bandwidth and ensures more efficient data transfer, which spurs the demand for wireless test equipment.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (http://www.testandmeasurement.frost.com), Analysis of the Wireless Test Equipment Markets: China, finds that the Chinese wireless test equipment earned revenues of $264.8 million in 2011 and estimates this to reach $771.3 million in 2018. The research covers base station test equipment, mobile device test equipment, drive test equipment, mobile backhaul test equipment, and wireless core test equipment.

If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an e-mail with your contact details to Zhenhua Chen, Corporate Communications, at zhenuhua.chen@frost.com.

"The main factors pushing demand for wireless test equipment are the growth of 3G deployment, the increase of wireless data, and TD-LTE development," notes Frost & Sullivan Research Analyst Wei Wei. Meanwhile, the investments of mobile service providers are also expected to spur market demand."

During the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), China will accelerate the development of 4G by conducting large-scale experiments of its own TD-LTE technology and putting it into commercial use, if possible.

Due to the wireless industry's move toward the TD-LTE/4G standard, the overall market is expected to witness medium growth during the forecast period. On the other hand, budgetary issues and decreased capital spending are likely to restrain the demand for wireless test equipment.

The growth of wireless test equipment depends heavily on the CAPEX of service providers. In China, telecom operators' CAPEX plan varies with seasons. Even though the major investment area is a 3G network, operators will also make capital investments into optimizing a 2G/2.5G network.

In addition to this challenge, uncertainty in the Chinese economy will also have a ripple effect on market prospects.

"The success of wireless test equipment is tied to general economic conditions in China and, market conditions in the telecommunication and networking industries, in particular," remarks Wei. "Unfavorable economic and market conditions could likely result in lower CAPEX by the SPs and NEMs; therefore, demand could decline and adversely impact their spending on test equipment."

Test equipment vendors are continuously upgrading their product line-up and delivering better product performance and customized solutions, as well as making constant investments in research and development (R&D). This is aimed at helping them obtain sufficient capacity to handle exploding data traffic, meet the new 4G standard, and enjoy higher growth than their competitors.

"Test equipment vendors are developing MIMO technology which uses multiple antennas at both the transmitter and receiver," concludes Wei. "MIMO technology offers significant increases in data throughput and link range without additional bandwidth, therefore it can greatly improve communication performance."

Analysis of the Wireless Test Equipment Markets: China is part of the Test & Measurement Growth Partnership Service program, which also includes research in the following markets: World XDSL Test Equipment Markets, World Wireless Test Equipment Market and World Fiber Optic Test Equipment Market. All research included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.

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Analysis of the Wireless Test Equipment Markets: China
P5E6-30

Contact:
Zhenhua Chen
Corporate Communications – China
P: +86 21 5407 5780
M: +86 1381 6974 015
E: zhenhua.chen@frost.com

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