A competitive assessment by ABI Research ranked Nokia Siemens Networks first in macro base station vendors, with high scores in ABI’s innovation and implementation categories.
Ericsson came in second, but had the best score in the implementation category, with the most LTE deployment contracts and subscriber potential. Alcatel-Lucent ranked third overall, but was ranked the most innovative vendor, with high scores for research and development investment and commitment, small cell and heterogeneous network development, and TCO innovation. NSN was second in innovation with high scores in areas of essential IP, roadmap for advanced features and multi-protocol support. Huawei topped the list for base station silicon.
“The macro RAN vendor market is changing rapidly with architectures evolving towards distributed HetNets and legacy vendors examining their strategies and positioning as the next capex investment cycle gains momentum for 4G,” says Nick Marshall, principal analyst at ABI. “In this assessment we placed a heavy emphasis on 4G/LTE and advanced feature support and innovation as we ranked these companies and we expect each company to bring its own unique strengths to this market as they engage for market share worldwide.”
