“It is not easy to put a positive spin on the fact that the RAN market just recorded the steepest full-year decline in more than 20 years,” said Stefan Pongratz, Vice President for RAN market research at the Dell’Oro Group.

“Emerging markets are important for the microwave transmission industry. It is often these parts of the world where laying fiber is not always the first choice, rather it is the second to wireless technologies such as point-to-point microwave,” stated Jimmy Yu, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group.

“There is light at the end of this tunnel. The Optical Transport equipment market entered a period of revenue contraction in late 2023 and looks to be exiting it in early 2025. The strong fourth quarter growth rate in 2024 is a great indication that supply and demand for Optical Transport equipment is near equilibrium, meaning the equipment glut is over,” said Jimmy Yu, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group.

“The market has struggled to gain traction in the last three years, with three of the four quarters having flat or negative Y/Y growth rates. In 2024, we saw the lowest at -4 percent Y/Y… We remain cautiously optimistic about 2025, as more 5G Standalone (5G SA) networks are projected to launch than in 2024, and more subscribers continue to migrate to the existing 5G SA networks,” stated Dave Bolan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group