Global RAN Market Shifts: Stabilization, Challenges, and Surprising Decline in Q2 2023

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According to the latest report from market research firm Dell’Oro Group, the expansion phase of the global Radio Access Network (RAN) is gradually coming to an end. After strong growth from 2017 to 2021, RAN market revenues stabilized in 2022 and the first quarter of 2023. However, the market conditions deteriorated in the second quarter of this year, leading to the fastest decline in the RAN market in nearly seven years. While this decline was somewhat expected, its magnitude was much larger than anticipated.

Stefan Pongratz, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group, stated, “While factors like data traffic patterns, 5G monetization challenges, and economic struggles amid ongoing high inflation are often blamed, we attribute this quarter’s poor market performance to the clouded skies over North America. In addition to challenging 5G growth, the extra inventory accumulated over the past few years to mitigate supply chain risks has exacerbated this decline.”

Other key points from the Q2 2023 RAN market report include:

The global Top 5 RAN suppliers in H1 2023 include Huawei, Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung.
Nokia witnessed the largest increase in RAN revenue share from 2022 to H1 2023.
Huawei’s quarterly RAN share reached its highest level in three years. In Q2 2023, Huawei’s RAN revenue share outside of North America equaled the combined share of Ericsson and Nokia.
Ericsson and Samsung saw a decrease in RAN revenue share from 2022 to H1 2023.
Dell’Oro Group’s regional forecasts remain largely unchanged, but the research firm has revised the short-term outlook for the Asia-Pacific region excluding China upwards while downgrading the short-term outlook for North America.
The global RAN market revenue is projected to decline in 2023.