Market Outlook in the Wireless Business Segment
In the Wireless Business Segment, EBīs customers operate in various industries, each of
them having own industry specific factors driving the demand. A common factor creating demand
among the whole customer base is the introduction of new technologies. In 2014, the
implementation of LTE (Long Term Evolution) technology is expected to continue to be important
technological change driving the demand. Due to the long history in developing smart
phones and mobile communication devices, EB is in a good position to offer solutions, where
e.g. mastering multi-radio technologies and end-to-end system architectures covering both
terminals and networks is needed.
Following factors are estimated to create demand for EBīs products and services in 2014
and beyond:
• In the mobile infrastructure equipment market the use of LTE technology is expected to
continue strong. This creates the need for services for LTE base station design. There is a
wide range of frequencies allocated for LTE globally, thus creating a need to develop multiple
products to cover the market, and creating demand for R&D services for design of product variants.
• The trend of adopting new commercial technologies, such as LTE and smart phone related
operating systems and applications, is expected to continue in special verticals such as
public safety. The specific LTE frequency band allocations for authorities create demand for
customized LTE devices, such as EBīs specialized terminals, tablets and communication
modules.
• The need for R&D services for connected devices for business or consumer use, such as
smart watch and other wearable devices is evolving and creating demand for customized
solutions based on EBīs product platforms.
• In the defense marketīs tactical communication the need for larger amounts of information
data grows, generating demand for broadband networks, such as EBīs customized
IP (Internet Protocol) based tactical communications solutions.
EB aims at bringing its products to the global defense and other authorities markets, where they are expected to start gradually generating net sales from the latter half of 2014 onwards. The public defense budget cuts affect negatively on the demand for products and product development services in Europe and also allover the world, simultaneously increasing the competition between the suppliers.
The defense, authorities and national security markets are by their nature slowly developing
markets. They are characterized by long sales cycles driven by purchasing programs of national
governments, and the purchases of the selected products take place over several years.
