Mobile Networks Market Shrinks at Fastest Pace in Seven Years
- Dell’Oro says second-quarter drop steeper than anticipated
- Decline attributed to ‘clouds forming in North America’
Workers install equipment on a 5G cell tower in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Photographer: George Frey/BloombergThe global market for radio access networks, the gear that handles mobile communications, declined at the fastest pace in almost seven years last quarter, according to a report from Dell’Oro Group Inc, adding bad news to 5G equipment vendors already struggling with sluggish customer demand.
While the markets were expected to weaken, the magnitude of the reversal was “much steeper than anticipated” and heralds a full-year decline in global RAN revenues, said the Redwood City, California-based company, whose reports are widely watched by the industry. The sudden drop was preceded by an intense ramp-up by operators from 2017 to 2021, and somewhat more stable revenues through 2022 and into the first quarter of 2023.