Ericsson named top microwave vendor by operators in Infonetics survey

Ericsson is the vendor rated highest by operators in 8 out of 10 criteria in Infonetics’ 2012 microwave survey
Respondents perceive Ericsson as the market leader in terms of technology, positioning, and execution
Microwave links will continue to be widely deployed since maximizing capacity and flexibility are key capabilities. Growth is increasingly driven by small cells
Ericsson is the vendor rated highest by operators in 8 out of 10 of the criteria market research firm Infonetics Research asked about in its independent 2012 microwave survey, "Microwave Strategies and Vendor Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey," which explores operator deployment plans and perceptions of microwave equipment suppliers.

Infonetics Research is an international market research and consulting firm. The ranking is based on interviews of purchasing decision-makers for microwave equipment at 25 wireless operators in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Asia Pacific, CALA (Caribbean and Latin America), and North America.

Richard Webb, directing analyst for microwave, mobile offload, and mobile broadband devices at Infonetics Research, says: "For vendors, strategy has become an increasingly slippery slope they have to grapple with going in with strong technology at a higher-than-average price, or with lower-priced (but potentially lower-rated) technology, or running the risk of being solid but indistinct across the board. Getting it right is a moving target that currently Ericsson hits on bull’s eye.

"Our respondents perceive Ericsson as the market leader in terms of technology, positioning, and execution," Webb says.

Respondents place Ericsson clearly ahead in most criteria, giving top ratings in terms of perception of market leadership and the highest ranking in: technology, product roadmap, security, management software, financial stability, service/support, total cost of ownership, and product reliability.

Ola Gustafsson, head of Microwave and Mobile Backhaul at Ericsson says: "We are pleased by this strong vote of confidence from operators. As our end-to-end portfolio moves operators into the coming all-IP world, we are committed to continuing to deliver microwave solutions that equip high-performance networks while making the most out of operator spectrum."

Ericsson received good ratings in the survey both from operators with Ericsson microwave equipment and respondents that have not deployed Ericsson microwave solutions. According to Infonetics, most respondents in the survey are prolific users of microwave.

Going forward, the report indicates that operators will continue to need microwave links even as fiber to the cell site becomes more widely deployed. It further states that small cell deployments will be one of the forces driving growth in microwave links. One projection the report makes is that all-outdoor microwave backhaul systems will become increasingly popular for small cell backhaul because of their zero-footprint design. Ericsson delivers the highest rated purchase criteria in packet-based microwave features (labeled as Ethernet in the report).

Notes to editors

About the survey

For its 38-page Microwave Strategies survey, Infonetics interviewed purchase decision-makers for microwave equipment at 25 independent wireless, incumbent, and competitive operators in EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), Asia Pacific, CALA (Caribbean and Latin America), and North America. The report explores operator plans for deploying microwave equipment and features a vendor scorecard with service provider ratings of 12 microwave manufacturers (Alcatel-Lucent, Aviat Networks, Ceragon, DragonWave, ECI Telecom, Ericsson, Huawei, Intracom, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, SIAE, ZTE). To buy the survey, contact Infonetics Research.