As you may recall, according the the latest Cisco VNI forecast, global mobile data traffic will grow 13-fold from 2012 to 2017, with a compound annual growth rate of 66 percent.
Moreover, mobile traffic per user will reach 2,037 megabytes per month in 2017 -- that's up from 201 megabytes per month in 2012, with a CAGR of 56 percent.
Mobile network service providers around the globe have been investing in infrastructure, in anticipation of the growing demand for mobile internet access via the increased adoption of smartphones.
ABI Research found that while the overall 2012 wireless network equipment market was quite challenging for infrastructure vendors, the incessant demand for 3G and 4G mobile broadband will continue to drive significant new investment in mobile packet core equipment.
As a result, the mobile packet data core network infrastructure market will reach $1.8 billion in 2013.
"Continued growth in 3G and 4G traffic will propel the mobile packet core infrastructure to a cumulative $10 billion market over the next five years," said Joe Hoffman, principal analyst at ABI Research.
The overall mobile core network equipment market declined 12 percent in Q1 2013 from the rather moribund Q4 2012. But then the mobile network service provider investment quickly picked up once again.
Reflecting increased data demand, the packet data core market continues to expand and is up 22 percent over Q4 2012, and up 30 percent over the trailing twelve months.
In North America the hugely popular success of LTE is rapidly supplanting 2G and 3G traffic and eliminating capacity expansion needs for those technologies. Other parts of the world exhibit similar conditions, with packet core network equipment most in demand.
Market share includes the totality of a vendor’s core network business, giving an overall market strength, and much of today’s core network equipment supports 2G, 3G and 4G with only a software change.
