5G Active Antenna Unit (AAU) Market - Forecasts from 2023 to 2028

The global 5G AAU market is projected to grow at a CAGR of 22.43%, reaching US$27.994 billion by 2028, from US$8.313 billion in 2022.

GROWTH DRIVERS

Growing Investments and Partnerships in Massive MIMO

Massive MIMO (Multiple-Input Multiple-Output), or mMIMO, is a core component of 5G and 4G/LTE networks. mMIMO combines the radio and antenna into a single active antenna unit. As a result, the performance is improved drastically. The device has many antenna components, such as 16, 32, 64, or 96. This makes it possible to direct the transmitted signal or beam toward the user, minimizing interference from nearby users and enhancing total performance. Furthermore, compared to conventional macrocell technologies, it offers considerably higher data rates per user, greater cell capacity (simultaneous users), and possibly increased cell range.

Consequently, active business initiatives such as investments, expansion of product offerings, and partnerships can be witnessed owing to their increased benefits. For instance,

• In September 2018, to support its research and development (R&D) of 5G technology, Nokia revealed that it had received funding from the European Investment Bank (EIB) worth €500 million. The European Fund for Strategic Investments secured the loan. (EFSI). Furthermore, before a 5G deployment that was planned for the first half of 2019, the firm also made progress by being the first to demonstrate a 5G New Radio (5G NR) connection using Massive Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (Massive MIMO) technology across 2.5GHz spectrum.
• In February 2021, Ericsson announced the launch of three new radios in its Massive MIMO portfolio. The mid-band ma-MIMO 5G radios from Ericsson's Antenna-Integrated Radio (AIR) portfolio are said to offer users a full-featured network experience while tripling capacity. Additionally, passive cooling is included with these portable radios to lower maintenance costs.

Increasing Data Traffic

Increasing sector throughput rates were witnessed owing to the progression from 3G to 5G, and due to this, the base station antenna has become responsible for transmitting traffic to the airwaves. For active antennas to achieve data speed performance in ultra-precise beamforming, capacity expansion, and individual end-user throughput, massive Multi-Input Multi-Output (MIMO) active antennas are particularly important.

This has been demonstrated by the rollout of 5G mobile networks in the 3.5 GHz band (C-band). In addition to enhancing signal coverage, three-dimensional (3D) beamforming, which can produce high gain and steerable beams, also lowers costs because the subarray needs less electricity and less expensive high-power amplifiers. According to Ericsson, global mobile data traffic is expected to hit 324 EB/month by 2028. As data traffic increases exponentially, active antennas will become an increasingly important tool for Communication Service Providers (CSPs).

GEOGRAPHICAL PRESENCE

The global 5G AAU market comprises major countries undertaking various measures to secure their 5G network. Consequently, many nations have undertaken multiple steps which have complemented the overall market growth. For instance:

• In August 2022, China Unicom Beijing announced the commercialization of Huawei's brand-new 64T64R MetaAAU in a pilot urban residential area in Tongzhou District. The region witnesses huge demand for 5G services. The rollout of 64T64R MetaAAU resulted in a significant increase in user-perceived rates.
• In February 2023, Nokia announced it had been awarded a ten-year extension to its nationwide 5G network contract with Singapore's Antina Pte. Ltd. ("Antina"), a joint venture between mobile network operators M1 and StarHub. For complete 5G coverage, Nokia will offer its AirScale array, which includes massive MIMO antennas and remote radio heads.

MAJOR PLAYERS

Some of the leading players in the market include Huawei and ZTE, among others. The product offerings of the major corporation include the following:

• Huawei offers Huawei’s 64T64R MetaAAU which provides the extremely large antenna array (ELAA) that MetaAAU provides allows for 384 antenna elements, which is twice as many as a typical AAU (192). ELAA is used in conjunction with an ultra-light integrated array and signal direct injection feeding (SDIF) to enhance integration and coverage.MetaAAU improves range by 3 dB and 6 dB, and user experience measures by 30% and 60%, compared to traditional 64T64R AAU and 32T32R AAU, respectively.
• Nokia offers AirScale Massive MIMO radios which provides the 32TRX and 64TRX products for the TDD 4G and 5G mid-bands, which enable extremely bandwidth multi-band applications, as well as the dual-band 16TRX for FDD bands, are all part of the AirScale Massive MIMO radio portfolio. Each lightweight design makes it simple to implement high-energy efficiency and high-performance beamforming solutions for all kinds of deployment scenarios, from dense-urban capacity to wide-area coverage.

SEGMENTATION

The global 5G AAU market has been analyzed through the following segments:

By Architecture

• Antenna Unit (AU)
• Radio Unit (RU)

By Band

• Sub-6 GHz
• mmWave

By Deployment

• Urban
• Rural

By Geography

• Americas
• United States
• Others
• Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
• Germany
• UK
• Others
• Asia Pacific
• China
• Japan
• South Korea
• Others