Enterprise class Wireless LAN (WLAN) revenues continued on a recovery trajectory, growing 7% on a Y/Y basis, according to a recent Dell’Oro report.
The adoption of WiFi 7 jumped by 5 points to 11% of Indoor Access Points; Huawei, HPE, and H3C gained share of WiFi 7 revenues in 4Q 2024.
“The contraction in the 2024 WLAN market was the worst we have seen in over 20 years,” says Siân Morgan, research director at Dell’Oro Group. “It was even steeper than the dip during the economic crisis of 2009. However, the reverberations from the Covid-19 pandemic are dampening, and we are expecting double-digit growth in 2025.
“The refresh to WiFi 6E and WiFi 7 is driving the current growth. Huawei and H3C dominated the early WiFi 7 market, but in 4Q 2024 we recognized enterprise-class WiFi 7 sales from over 11 vendors. We are expecting the rapid adoption of Wi-Fi 7 to continue into 2025,” Morgan adds.
Additional highlights from the 4Q 2024 Wireless LAN Quarterly Report include:
- CommScope, HPE, and Ubiquiti recognised double-digit growth Y/Y in WLAN revenues.
- WLAN shipments to China and Middle East and Africa contracted, dragging worldwide shipments to below the 4Q 2023 level.
- Huawei remained the forerunner in WiFi 7 shipments; however, with Cisco expected to begin selling WiFi 7 APs in early 2025, the position of WiFi 7 leader will be in contention.
- The US Department of Justice has filed a suit against HPE, aiming to block HPE’s intended acquisition of Juniper. The suit’s central argument – that the WLAN market is too concentrated – is creating uncertainty in the outlook for the Public Cloud-Managed WLAN market.