Ericsson’s on the boil as a new survey places it on top in 8 of 10 tasty categories, including “product reliability, price-to-performance ratio, service and support" in microwave offerings.
Independent market research firm IHS has published its new “Microwave Network Strategies and Vendor Leadership report: Global Service Provider Survey”, which “highlights operators’ perceptions of microwave equipment suppliers".
The report, which is excerpted here (page has link to a detailed, 18-page PDF report), “surveyed a significant global sample of operators, representing 23% of 2016 worldwide telecom capex".
From the report we can see that Ericsson has “extended the leadership in key vendor selection criteria it secured in previous years of the report, and now leads in 8 out of the 10 categories.”
{loadposition alex08}This year, we’re told that:
- 67% of respondents named Ericsson as the top microwave manufacturer, 10 points ahead of the closest competitor in the category;
- 62% of respondents said they currently had Ericsson microwave equipment installed in their network; and
- On top of this, 90% of service providers had a familiarity with Ericsson microwave offerings, more than any other supplier.
Nishant Batra, head of Product Area Network Infrastructure at Ericsson, said: “Microwave is playing an increasingly important role in facilitating the rapid expansion of LTE and future 5G networks, and by 2021, we predict it will connect 65% of all radio sites.
“Mobile backhaul and microwave specifically are key areas for us and this report reflects our commitment to be the leading microwave provider. By investing in the right portfolio for our customers, we have enabled them to reduce total cost of ownership and provide the capacity and performance expected from top performing networks.”
“Most importantly,” said Ericsson, “respondents ranked 10 criteria for selecting microwave manufacturers.”
In order of importance, the criteria are:
- product reliability,
- price-to-performance ratio,
- service and support,
- pricing,
- product roadmap,
- solution breadth,
- security,
- management solutions,
- technology innovation, and
- financial stability.
Ericsson is listed as “the leader in 8 out of 10 categories, including product reliability, price-to-performance ratio, service and support, product roadmap, solution breadth, security, management solution and technology innovation".
Prepared by Richard Webb, research director, Mobile Backhaul and Small Cells, IHS Markit, we are told the report recognises Ericsson as a long-term pioneer of microwave and states: “This survey shows that Ericsson’s reputation in the market remains rock solid and… it remains perceived as the leading vendor in most categories in this year’s survey, extending further its leadership position.”
As the industry looks toward 5G, Ericsson naturally states that “microwave technology will continue to play a key role, securing mobile broadband backhaul capacity".
Its explanation continues: “Microwave is a very flexible technology and already today supports 10Gbps data rates and very low latencies. An attractive option for growth of backhaul capacity and speed is the availability of microwave spectrum and products for higher frequencies, resulting in strong interest in the industry for E-band products, operating on radio frequencies around 70 to 80GHz.”
These and other “exciting developments were part of the discussion at the fourth annual Global Microwave Meeting hosted by Ericsson on June 27 to 28 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Experts from the private and public sector, industry and academia discussed the critical role and technical evolution of microwave networks, which enables to push the technology to progress across the industry".
More from Ericsson’s microwave portfolio here.
Microwave ovens not included.
