According to ABI Research, last year cellular modem sales — including PC Cards, Express Cards, USB modems, embedded modems and 3G/Wi-Fi routers cumulatively — increased more than 300% compared to 2006. The research company forecasts that by 2013, shipments of cellular modems will exceed 200 million units.
However, ABI notes, the last year growth did not benefit just traditional market leaders such as Option Wireless, Sierra Wireless and Novatel. Asia-Pacific vendors — including Huawei, ZTE, and C-motech — now control the majority of worldwide sales and are bringing a completely new set of capabilities to the marketplace. The reason is obvious – these Asia-Pacific companies have robust portfolios of other telecommunications products and services that positions them to compete for operator sales at a very different level.
During the last couple of years mobile operators expanded their portfolio of mobile broadband price plans, opening up the market to small and medium sized businesses, as well as consumers — a move that certainly increased the demand for the cellular modems. In addition, technologies like Qualcomm’s Gobi, the eventual consolidation to GSM 3G and 4G networks, and WiMAX will all have positive effects on the supply chain, creating cellular-enabled devices which will drive up sales of embedded modems…
As always, more information is available on ABI Research’s website. Their study, “Cellular Modems and Mobile Broadband Connectivity,” provides a comprehensive overview of the market for cellular modems.