Dell’Oro Group Inc. The global market for radio access networks, devices serving mobile communications, fell at the fastest pace in nearly seven years last quarter, adding to bad news for 5G equipment vendors who are already in trouble. slow customer base. sue.

The Redwood City-based company, whose reports have been widely followed around the world, said that while markets are expected to weaken, the magnitude of the reversal was “much steeper than expected”, pointing to a decline in global RAN revenue for the full year. industry. Before the sudden drop, there was a massive increase in operators from 2017 to 2021 and slightly more stable revenues throughout 2022 and in the first quarter of 2023.

According to vice president Stefan Pongratz, Dell’Oro attributed the lower numbers in the quarter to “cloud formation in North America”. He added that the decline has also been exacerbated by additional inventories created over the past few years to mitigate supply chain risks.

The data adds to the pressure on suppliers, who are already struggling with sluggish sales, as high inflation and rising interest rates put increasing pressure on operators’ spending plans. Both Ericsson AB and Nokia Oyj lowered their forecasts in their latest earnings reports, citing the weak demand outlook.

Both Ericsson and Samsung Electronics Co. The report noted that RAN saw a decline in market share between 2022 and the first half of 2023, while Nokia recorded the largest increase in revenue share during this period. The quarterly share of Chinese vendor Huawei Technologies Co reached the highest level in the last three years. Source