2013
Patchy year ahead for VoIP equipment as market awaits VoLTE; Carrier SBCs hit all-time high
Market research firm Infonetics Research today released vendor market share and forecast excerpts from its 1st quarter 2013 (1Q13) Service Provider VoIP and IMS Equipment and Subscribers report. (Full report published May 30.)
ANALYST NOTE
“Service provider session border controllers (SBCs) had a stellar first quarter, passing the $100-million mark to hit an all-time high for a single quarter. Operators are working on complex network migration and voice-over-LTE deployment plans, with sales cycles happening at different times for different elements, and SBCs benefitted from this trend in the first quarter,” explains Diane Myers, principal analyst for VoIP, UC, and IMS at Infonetics Research.
Myers adds: “That said, the overall global next-gen voice equipment market is down in 1Q13, coming off a solid 2012, and we expect a patchy year ahead while we wait for VoLTE networks in North America to kick in. Network transformation and VoLTE projects are ongoing of course, but this year’s equipment orders are not likely to match the magnitude of last year’s.”
CARRIER VOIP/IMS MARKET HIGHLIGHTS
- The total global carrier voice over IP (VoIP) and IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) equipment market fell 11% in 1Q13 from 4Q12, to $712 million, due to a drop in sales of legacy equipment and voice application servers
- For the 1st time, sales of IMS equipment exceeded those of next-generation voice equipment
- The top 3 VoIP and IMS market share leaders in 1Q13 are Huawei, Alcatel-Lucent, and Genband — all holding steady from the previous quarter
- Alcatel-Lucent had a particularly strong quarter; other vendors posting solid revenue growth in 1Q13 include Acme Packet, AudioCodes, Ericsson, Metaswitch and ZTE
- North America is the only region to post quarter-over-quarter growth in the market, up 26% in 1Q13, benefitting from LTE-related activity and network transformation projects
- Meanwhile, Asia Pacific declined nearly 1/3 in the same timeframe
