Data from Dell’Oro Group showed Huawei was the leading telecom equipment vendor by revenue in 2023, but the overall market had contracted 5% year-on-year, snapping five years of consecutive growth.
The analyst company said in a statement, the decline in the second half of 2023 was “worse than expected” after the half decade of growth that lasted until the first half of 2023. The loss was attributed to “challenging comparisons in some of the advanced 5G markets with higher 5G population coverage taken together with the slow transition towards 5G SA.”
Dell’Oro Group tracked earnings from: broadband access, microwave and optical transport, mobile core network, RAN, and service provider router and switch.
Chinese vendor Huawei accounted for 30% of overall revenue in 2023 a rise from 28% in 2022, maintaining its top position. This is despite "ongoing efforts by the US government to limit Huawei’s addressable market and access to the latest silicon."
Nokia was second with a flat 15%, Ericsson declined from 14% to 13%, and ZTE ranked fourth with a flat 11%.
Dell’Oro Group noted global revenue excluding North America grew “as positive developments in the Asia Pacific region were mostly sufficient to offset weaker growth across Europe”.
Looking ahead, market conditions will “remain challenging in 2024” but a “less severe” dip is expected in 2024.
