“The point-to-point microwave transmission equipment market started off strong at the beginning of the year, but steadily weakened as the year progressed,” says Dell’Oro vp Jimmy Yu, “entering the year, we were predicting that the market would increase slightly, driven by growth in emerging markets where wireless backhaul is a critical technology for connecting mobile base stations to operators’ networks.”
“However, the year ended down one percent as demand in India and Latin America faltered,” added Yu, “we believe the fundamentals underlying the market condition remain in place, and, therefore, still believe the demand for microwave transmission equipment will grow through 2027, after which time, 5G network deployments should peak.”
The vendor landscape changed slightly between 2024 and 2025. ZTE and Aviat gained positions, while Ceragon lost two positions in the revenue share ranking.
The market continued to consolidate with the top six vendors continuing to increase their combined share count. In 2025, the top six microwave transmission equipment manufacturers increased their combined revenue share from 85 percent to 87 percent.
The use of microwave transmission gear increased in mobile backhaul during the year, driven by both 4G and 5G mobile radio network deployments. The vertical markets that include private networks and mission-critical enterprises declined, more than offsetting that growth.
