Self-Organizing Network Market Overview
Growing smartphone penetration, rising mobile data traffic, increasing need for managing growing network complexity, and virtualization of mobile networks are some of the key factors driving the growth of the self-organizing network market across the globe.
Self-organizing network technology is responsible for automatically planning, configuring, managing, optimizing, and healing mobile networks. It can maintain a high level of network performance through dynamic optimization and troubleshooting while operation. Moreover, it can minimize the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and operational expenditure (OPEX) of mobile operators through advanced automated configuration, optimization, and diagnosis of a large number of mobile networks.
Based on architecture, the market has been classified into centralized self-organizing network (C-SON), distributed self-organizing network (D-SON), and hybrid self-organizing network (H-SON). Among these, the D-SON category held the largest share in the global self-organizing network market in 2018, and the trend is expected to continue over the forecast period 2019–2024. This can be attributed to the widespread adoption of the D-SON technology by network operators across the globe. The market, during the forecast period, is expected to witness the fastest growth in demand for the H-SON technology, owing to its enhanced capability of facilitating real-time response in complex network arrangements.
On the basis of network type, the market has been categorized into 2G/3G, 4G/long-term evolution (LTE), and 5G. Among these, the 5G category is expected to witness the fastest growth in the self-organizing network market during the forecast period. This can be ascribed to the increasing demand for high-speed data transfer solutions and surging number of data-intensive applications requiring enhanced network availability. Deployment of a self-organizing network would help reduce the complexity of 5G network configuration and minimize chances of network.
Geographically, the self-organizing network market has been categorized into North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific (APAC), Latin America (LATAM), and Middle East and Africa (MEA). Of these, North America held the largest market share in 2018 and is further expected to lead the market in the near future. In terms of growth, APAC is expected to be the fastest-growing regional market during the forecast period, on account of the increasing internet penetration, primarily driven by the high adoption of smartphones in the region.
Self-Organizing Network Market Dynamics
Growth Drivers
Growing smartphone penetration is one of the key factors driving the self-organizing network market across the globe. According to the GSM Association, as of 2018, the smartphone adoption rate in the North American region was around 80%, and it is expected to reach around 90% by 2025. Furthermore, in APAC, smartphone adoption is expected to grow from 54% in 2018 to around 82% in 2025.
With the growing adoption of smartphones, cellular data traffic is increasing at a high pace globally. As per Ericsson Mobility Report, global mobile traffic is projected to rise by a factor of 5 within the next five years and would reach 136EB/month by the end of 2024. In order to accommodate this growing demand, mobile operators are increasingly deploying complex networks. Thus, to reduce the lifecycle cost of mobile networks by eliminating manual configuration of networks, the demand for self-configuring, self-optimizing network solutions is increasing across the globe, which, in turn, is positively affecting the self-organizing network market.
Opportunities
Upcoming 5G network is one of the key factors offering immense growth opportunities to the self-organizing network market players globally. Rising number of higher-bandwidth data applications would increase the demand for the 5G network during the forecast period. Currently, due to manual configuration and optimization, a lot of network capacity gets wasted. Thus, the adoption of self-organizing network technology would address the issue through automatic configuration, optimization, diagnosis, and healing of cellular networks, without impacting the network reliability.
Self-Organizing Network Market Competitive Landscape
Owing to the presence of numerous market players, the global self-organizing network market is fragmented and competitive in nature. Players in the market are focusing on inorganic growth strategies, such as mergers and acquisitions, as well as organic approaches, such as product launches, to expand their foothold. For instance, in February 2019, Cisco Systems Inc. launched Cisco Crosswork SONFlex, which helps reduce the development, deployment, and maintenance costs of self-organizing network applications. In addition, it enables faster time to market and shortens the time between conception and application deployment.
Furthermore, in February 2018, TEOCO Corporation launched SmartCM 2.0, a next-generation radio access network (RAN) configuration management solution. The solution allows mobile operators to roll out, audit, and ensure integrity of the RAN network and offer improved service to their customers.
Some of the other major players operating in the self-organizing network market are Qualcomm Inc., Ericsson Inc., Airspan Networks Inc., NEC Corporation, Nokia Corporation, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., CommScope Inc., Casa Systems Inc., CCS Ltd., and Amdocs Ltd.
