Report: Base station shipments slowing

After a strong showing in 2007, worldwide base station shipments appear weak this year, according to research from In-Stat.
The firm said 2007 was marked by new 3G network rollouts worldwide along with strong GSM growth driven by markets like India, Africa and China. However, these trends will not prevent base station shipments from dropping sharply this year, said In-Stat.
“New 3G networks are continuing to be deployed, and some operators like T-Mobile are deploying entirely new W-CDMA-type networks,” said Allen Nogee, In-Stat analyst. “However, the worldwide economy has been faltering, subscriber GSM growth – even in fast-growing developing areas – is starting to slow, and wireless broadband use, while growing, is not growing fast enough for operators to spawn continued base station growth.”