Global SON (Self-Organizing Networks) Ecosystem Industry 2015 Market Share, Size, Industry Profile, Market Prize, Forecast and Overview

SON (Self-Organizing Network) technology minimizes the lifecycle cost of running a mobile network by eliminating manual configuration of equipment at the time of deployment, right through to dynamically optimizing performance and troubleshooting during operation. This can significantly reduce the cost of the operator’s services, improving the OpEx to revenue ratio. Amid growing demands for mobile broadband connectivity, mobile operators are keen to capitalize on SON to minimize rollout delays and operational expenditures associated with their ongoing LTE and HetNet deployments. 

Originally targeted for the RAN (Radio Access Network) segment of mobile networks, SON technology is now also utilized in the mobile core and transport network segments. Furthermore, the SON ecosystem is increasingly witnessing convergence with other technological innovations such as Big Data, predictive analytics and DPI (Deep Packet Inspection). Despite challenges relating to implementation complexities and multi-vendor interoperability, SON revenue is expected to grow to more than $4 Billion by the end of 2017, exceeding conventional mobile network optimization revenue by nearly 60%. The “SON (Self-Organizing Networks) Ecosystem: 2015 – 2030 – Opportunities, Challenges, Strategies & Forecasts” report presents an in-depth assessment of the SON and associated mobile network optimization ecosystem including key market drivers, challenges, OpEx and CapEx savings potential, use cases, SON deployment case studies, future roadmap, value chain, vendor analysis and strategies. The report also presents revenue forecasts for both SON and conventional mobile network optimization, along with individual projections for 7 SON submarkets, 6 regions and 15 countries from 2015 through to 2030.

Key Findings

The report has the following key findings:

• Despite challenges relating to implementation complexities and multi-vendor interoperability, SON revenue is expected to grow to more than $4 Billion by the end of 2017, exceeding conventional mobile network optimization revenue by nearly 60%
• SNS Research estimates that SON can enable mobile operators to save nearly 40% of their electrical power consumption by dynamically activating and deactivating RAN nodes in line with the changing traffic and user distribution profile
• SNS Research estimates that a Tier 1 mobile operator can save more than 30% of its overall OpEx by employing SON across the RAN, mobile core and transport segments of the network
• Mobile operators have reported up to a 50% reduction in dropped calls and over 20% higher data rates with SON implementation
• SON platforms are moving from reactive systems to more advanced implementations that incorporate predictive analytics technology to make necessary changes to a network before any degradation occurs
• Infrastructure and software incumbents are aggressively eyeing acquisitions of smaller established C-SON players to accelerate their entry path into the C-SON market