February 8, 2013

Research & Analytics...

SP Wi-Fi Purchases Will Drive Small-Cell Growth
According to Dell’Oro Group, the public-access market will generate the fastest growth for small cells during the next five years. The group’s assessment of the backhaul vendor landscape, vendor products and the various backhaul technologies that will be used at different small cellsites found that more than 60 percent of small cellsites using external backhaul will rely on Line-of-Sight (LOS) and Non-Line-of-Sight (NLOS) microwave by 2017. In addition, analysis of unlicensed small cells shows that service-provider Wi-Fi (including enterprise-class devices and outdoor mesh nodes) will account for approximately 85 percent of all small-cell radio shipments by that time.
 
Making New Wireless Subs While Keeping The Old
More than 50 percent of U.S. smartphone owners who say they buy unlimited data plans also want those plans to offer customization, speed guarantees or family plans for multiple devices, says Strategy Analytics. Sprint Nextel and T-Mobile USA are betting on unlimited data as a way to win market share against their larger rivals, its research notes, while AT&T and Verizon are sweetening their tiered data plans with unlimited voice-and-text bundles, no extra fees for tethering and data-sharing across multiple devices.