Dell’Oro Group branded the RAN market a disaster after its preliminary research pointed to a decline in revenue of between 15 per cent and 30 per cent year-on-year in Q1.

The company stated RAN sales are struggling to return to peak levels achieved in 2022, with a poor showing by most vendors. It ranked Huawei at the head of the market, followed by Ericsson, Nokia, ZTE and Samsung.

Although light on figures, Dell’Oro Group stated a four-quarter trailing assessment showed an improvement in market share by Huawei relative to 2023, “while Nokia lost some ground”.

Stefan Pongratz, VP and analyst, stated the decline in revenue was the biggest since Dell’Oro Group began tracking the RAN sector 24 years ago and is the third consecutive quarter of double-digit contractions.

“It’s difficult to find a silver lining”, Pongratz wrote, pointing to “known coverage-related challenges” in advanced 5G markets along with growing concerns “about the timing of capacity upgrades given current network utilisation levels and data traffic growth rates”.

Dell’Oro Group’s figures point to growth in RAN sales in the Middle East and Africa, a flat market in Latin America, and declines in North America, Europe and Asia Pacific.

It revised its global growth forecast “slightly downward over the short term”, with an expectation revenue will decline by 5 per cent to 8 per cent over the full year.