The speed of 4G construction slows down, and European telecom equipment manufacturers face an uncertain year. However, since operators all over the world want to expand network coverage and increase network capacity to meet the growing traffic demand of video and smart phones, the overall spending of mobile and fixed networks this year is expected to grow for the second consecutive year.

Although the 4G network construction in the United States, Japan and South Korea has been basically completed, this technology has just begun to advance in most parts of Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa.

Gartner, an American market research company, predicted that operators' investment in mobile infrastructure will grow by 8% this year, reaching $43.36 billion. Fixed network investment is expected to increase by 7.7% to US $10.33 billion, mainly driven by the spread of optical network services.

"4G networks were first launched in the United States, Japan and South Korea, and are now spreading." Gartner analyst Deborah Kish said, "Telecommunication companies in remote areas such as Honduras and Croatia also plan to launch more advanced services and attract prepaid customers to sign contracts."

At the same time, analysts from Bernstein Research, an American investment bank, predicted that global wireless network equipment spending would increase by 5% this year, while fixed network equipment spending would be basically the same as last year.

What is rare is that Europe seems to be the growth engine of telecom equipment companies this year, which will benefit Ericsson, Huawei and Nokia, the three market leaders.

In order to exert pressure on competitors, Vodafone Invested 7 billion pounds to promote the so-called Project Spring to improve the company's network. Deutsche Telecom and Spain Telecom may also increase their respective capital expenditure.

Vittorio Colao, CEO of Vodafone, once said that the group's main competitors might increase network investment. What makes the prospect of the European market even more unclear is the recent wave of mergers and acquisitions, including the acquisition of mobile operator market leader EE by British Telecom Group, the leader of the British broadband market, Hutchison Whampoa's acquisition of Spain Telecom's total O2 of $15.4 billion, and Altice's acquisition of Portugal Telecom.

Due to the need to consolidate networks, such transactions often lead operators to reassess their contracts with equipment manufacturers, so expenses may be reduced.

At the same time Alcatel Lucent (hereinafter referred to as "Alan") must deal with the impact of the reduction of AT&T and Verizon's expenditure, because both operators have completed the construction of 4G networks. However, the French American joint venture will still increase its revenue due to the weak euro exchange rate, which is conducive to the company's recovery plan.

Analysts believe that Alang will also benefit from the strong performance of IP routers and optical products, which can help operators handle greater data traffic. Huawei and Cisco have also performed well in this field.

Analysts predict that India will also become a bright spot in the industry with a growth of up to 5%. As the regulatory uncertainty related to mobile license is eliminated, operators are expected to invest in call and data networks. Due to the government's investigation of corruption related to mobile licenses, the Indian telecommunications industry has almost stagnated in recent years.