In what has been a typically rough year for Alcatel-Lucent, a piece of positive news came in ABI Research figures which showed the equipment vendor grabbed third spot in the RAN (Radio Access Network) market from rival NSN in Q3 2013.

Alcatel-Lucent increased its RAN revenue by 20 per cent sequentially in a result that ABI attributed to the vendor’s LTE business particularly in the US, as well as positive trends in both APAC and EMEA. Alcatel-Lucent’s share of the RAN market (base station equipment) was 16.9 per cent.

Its revenue from 4G more than doubled year-on-year thanks to its LTE overlay strategy, said the research firm.

In contrast, NSN struggled with a year-on-year decrease in mobile broadband revenue thanks to disappointing performance from its WCDMA, GSM and CDMA businesses.

ABI said NSN’s RAN revenue was slightly ahead of normal seasonality for the market. Its market share was 14.9 per cent.

The Finnish vendor’s LTE revenue was flat this quarter as higher sales in North America, Europe and Latin America was pulled down by lower sales in Japan and Korea.

Meanwhile Huawei maintained its leadership  of the RAN market at 28 per cent share, down three points sequentially but up 3.8 points on a year-on-year basis.  Ericsson was in second spot with a market share of 21.8 per cent.

Samsung holds fifth spot in the RAN market with a 9.5 per cent share.