Telecommunications equipment

Telecommunications equipment (also telecoms equipment or communications equipment) is hardware used for the purposes of telecommunications. Since the 1990s the boundary between telecoms equipment and IT hardware has become blurred as a result of the growth of the internet and its increasing role in the transfer of telecoms data.

Types

Telecommunications equipment can be broadly broken down into the following categories:

• Public switching equipment
  • Analogue switches
  • Digital switches
• Transmission equipment
  • Transmission lines
    • Optical fiber
  • Base transceiver stations
  • Free-space optical communication
    • Laser communication in space
  • Multiplexers
  • Local loops
  • Communications satellites
• Customer premises equipment
  • Private switches
  • Local area networks
  • Modems
  • Mobile phones
  • Landline telephones
  • Answering machines
  • Teleprinters
  • Fax machines
  • Pagers
  • Routers

Vendors

The world's five largest telecommunications equipment (excluding mobile phone handsets) vendors, 2016 revenues are:

1. Huawei Technologies
2. Ericsson
3. Cisco Systems
4. Nokia Networks (including Alcatel-Lucent)
5. ZTE Corporation

The world's five largest router and switch vendor leadership: Global Service Provider Survey, June 2015:

1. Cisco Systems
2. Huawei Technologies
3. Nokia Networks (including Alcatel-Lucent)
4. Juniper Networks
5. ZTE Corporation

The world's largest mobile phone handset vendors: 3rd quarter of 2016 Major Smartphone Sales Leaders :

1. Samsung (72.5 million)
2. Apple (45.5 million)
3. Huawei Technologies (33.6 million)
4. OPPO (25.3 million)
5. Vivo (21.2 million)
6. Xiaomi (14.9 million)
7. LG Electronics (13.5 million)
8. ZTE Corporation (11.7 million)
9. Lenovo (10.9 million)
10. TCL (8.9 million)
11. Meizu (5.5 million)
12. Micromax Mobile (< 5.0 million)
13. Sony (< 5.0 million)

See also

• Networking hardware