LTE: catalyst for base station market growth

As LTE is driving the deployment of new and refurbished base stations, support of multiple airlinks and radio bands has become the central driver in the macro base station market, a market that is expected to grow to almost 7 million deployed base stations by 2014, according to In-Stat. Such flexibility and programmability in base stations is driving more complex software-based QAM as well as MIMO antenna arrays.

Industry analyst Chris Kissel reveals that mobile operators have a set of baseline expectations for BTS manufacturers, and that multi-mode airlinks are now requisite. He further explains that multi-mode and multi-band standards will be ubiquitous and interchangeable in every forward-moving base station.

In-Stat research entitled "Multiple Airlinks Simplify Macro Base Station Deployments: Five Year Analysis" explains how enhanced semiconductor capabilities are transforming base stations. Likewise, the report tracks key region base station deployments and reviews vendor strategies in regard to macro base stations, forecasting from 2008 to 2014.

Other findings include:
-WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ base stations remain as the largest revenue segment through 201
-Transition between 2G to 3G, HSPA, and LTE airlinks shall also need reconditioning or redeploying existing base stations
- Base station revenue for WCDMA/HSPA/HSPA+ technology in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region will reach $3B by 2012
- The average selling price for macro base stations shall gradually decline.
- Downward pricing pressures in semiconductors will be offset by increasingly sophisticated software-based QAM, and increasingly more complicated MIMO antenna arrays.