In a landmark development marking the first record low year of the 5G era, Ericsson, Nokia, and Samsung each reported a decline in overall sales for 2023 during their earnings calls. They cited macroeconomic challenges, a shrinking mobile network infrastructure market, and reduced spending by operators as contributing factors. The rapid 5G rollouts in India provided a silver lining, boosting the overall numbers. However, there was a slowdown among Indian operators in Q4 2023 as they aimed to normalize their investments following a capital expenditure-intensive 2023, as reported by market intelligence firm Counterpoint Research.
For the year 2023, Ericsson generated nearly $24.8 billion in revenue, while its Finnish counterpart Nokia recorded $24.1 billion in revenue. Samsung’s network division sales stood at $2.9 billion, experiencing a decline due to changes in the business mix, resulting in deflated margins.
Ericsson maintained its leadership position in 5G Standalone deployments, with its cloud and network services business revenue remaining unchanged year-over-year (YoY). Nokia’s Cloud and Network Services business saw flat net sales for the year, but operating profit and margin improved due to digital asset sales and hedging. Nokia ranked second behind Ericsson in terms of the number of 5G Standalone core deployments. Revenue from enterprise customers increased by about 15 percent to $2.46 billion in 2023, with 151 new clients added. Nokia also continued to see momentum in private networks, serving over 710 private wireless clients.
Samsung reported $2.9 billion in revenue for 2023, down from $4.2 billion the previous year, experiencing similar challenges as its Nordic counterparts. However, it remains optimistic about securing key deals for virtual Radio Access Network (vRAN) and Open RAN networks in 2024. Notably, Ericsson signed a $14 billion deal with AT&T at the end of the year to provide Open RAN-compliant equipment, reducing Nokia’s market share in the North American region.
Industry suppliers anticipate a rise in demand and stabilization of market spending due to capacity requirements, emerging use cases, increased data traffic, and the integration of more mid-band radios. However, the timeline for these developments remains uncertain, according to the report.
