The global base transmitting station (BTS) transceiver (TRx) market grew by 20.5% in units in 2008, according to the latest report from EJL Wireless Research titled "Global BTS Transceiver Market Analysis and Forecast, 5thEdition, 2008-2013." "The transceiver market continued to show strong growth in 2008 despite the global financial crisis that emerged during the second half of the year and impacted wireless cap ex spending," says founder and President, Earl Lum. The report provides a unique perspective on the global shipments and demand for TRx equipment covering all air interface standards and frequencies and major OEMs including Alcatel-Lucent, Ericsson, Huawei Technologies, Motorola, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel Networks, and ZTE.

"The big surprise was Huawei Technologies which became the second largest vendor after Ericsson. In addition, ZTE moved into fourth place in overall rankings after posting 109% growth," says Lum. The overall market is expected to decline in 2009 and remain weak through 2011 before seeing a rebound in 2012. GSM shipments continue to represent the majority of the overall market demand in the forecast but will see a gradual decline. We forecast that LTE shipments will become the second largest segment by 2013, followed by W-CDMA/HSPA shipments.