The carrier WiFi market has seen a dynamic injection of growth in the last couple of years, driven by fixed and mobile operators seeking to extend and enhance their broadband subscription services," notes Richard Webb, directing analyst for mobile backhaul and small cells at market research firm Infonetics Research.
Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest Carrier WiFi Equipment report, which tracks WiFi equipment deployed by operators in public spaces for wireless internet access. Cisco, Huawei, and Ruckus Wireless (listed in alphabetical order) are the carrier WiFi market share leaders in 1H14. "The push for service augmentation and upgrade to the 802.11ac standard, combined with the opportunities presented by Hotspot 2.0, voice over WiFi (VoWiFi), and network functions virtualization (NFV) to derive new service models, will drive the carrier WiFi market to $3bn in 2018," Webb adds.
The global carrier WiFi equipment market (carrier WiFi access points and WiFi hotspot controllers) totaled $527m in 2013, a gain of 9% from the previous year, driven in part by the deployment of small cells with integrated WiFi.
In the first half of 2014 (1H14), carrier WiFi equipment revenue reached $286m, up 6% from the second half of 2013 (2H13). 802.11ac access points contributed 11% to 1H14 and WiFi access point revenue and are expected to see notable adoption in the coming years.
The evolution of network functions virtualization (NFV) offers the opportunity for more cost effective WiFi service delivery by a range of service providers as well as enterprises and other organizations with existing WiFi (or wireless LAN) deployments.