The fundamentals for 2022 will remain strong, the Open RAN forecast has been upgraded
Growth in the radio access network (RAN) infrastructure market slowed in the first quarter, according to New research From the Del’Oro Group. According to Stefan Pangratz, VP of Del’Oro, despite the overall RAN slowdown – responsible for epidemics and supply chain-related issues – the innovation of the 5G market and the overall fundamentals are looking healthy.
Despite the slow overall growth in the RAN market, Del’Oro upgraded OpenRAN and vRAN revenue estimates based on record earnings in that part of the market.
“We haven’t made any major adjustments to the overall forecast and still expect the broader RAN market to record growth for the fifth year in a row in 2022, based on higher investment in North America, Europe and China,” he said.
The top five suppliers for the quarter include Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, ZTE and Samsung. Within China, Huawei and ZTE dominate. Ericsson, Nokia and Samsung are ahead of China, the report said.
Both Samsung and Fujitsu have gained market share, Del’Oro noted. Earlier this month, Dish chose Samsung as an open RAN equipment supplier. Samsung radios – some of which will be massive MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) radios – will also support all the frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) spectrum bands in the dish – n66, n7, n7, n7, n7, .
In April, Fujitsu announced support for the EventStar Open RAN program. The Fujitsu 5G will contribute huge MIMO radio units (RUs). Fujitsu says RUs will be tested, verified and listed on the TIP Exchange Marketplace in the second half of 2022. Huge MIMO enhances spectrum efficiency and is seen as the key to greater network capacity and wider coverage. Fujitsu says improving skills at the network end will also benefit the environment.
OpenRAN and vRAN are increasing
Dell’Oro separately announced that Open RAN revenue, including O-RAN and OpenRAN radio and baseband, hit record levels in the first quarter. VRAN revenue quadrupled in the first quarter. Open RAN earnings more than doubled in the first quarter of 2022, Del’Oro said.
The rise was led by strong movements in the Asia-Pacific and North America regions. Del’Oro noted that this is the result of the momentum achieved in the second half of 2021. Analysts believe that by 2022, 3-5 percent of the global RAN market will be open RAN revenue.
Commenting on the news, Pangratz said it was a sign that open interfaces had moved away from the experimental phase.
“The transition to new architectures, including Open RAN and vRAN, continues to move in the right direction in the first quarter, reinforcing the notion that the transition to an open interface is here. The emergence of the first quarter, combined with the forthcoming portfolio progress, forms the basis for a more favorable short-term outlook, ”said Pangratz.
