Over-the-Air (OTA) Testing Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

Over-the-Air (OTA) Testing Market - Growth, Trends, COVID-19 Impact, and Forecasts (2022 - 2027)

The Over-the-Air (OTA) testing market is expected to register a CAGR of 10% during the forecast period (2021 - 2026). OTA testing is essential for any tablet, phone, or networked machine device, as any accessory or product might degrade their OTA performance. OTA testing is also done to certify certain products according to the set standards. Most IoT and M2M device manufacturers also require OTA certified products, as they reduce compliance complexity, remediate potentially costly design errors, and meet demanding global go-to-market schedules.​

Key Highlights

• The key factors driving the market is the rapidly evolving 5G technology, the implementation of OTA testing across the supply chain, and the rapidly growing IoT and smart devices.​
• The whole IoT spectrum comprises smart applications, such as smart cities, smart mobility, smart grid, and smart manufacturing (Industry 4.0), focusing on architectures and technologies that are designed to connect and automate the whole industry. This transformation would use many wireless devices in the process, which is one of the major factors for market growth.​
• The number of IoT-connected devices has witnessed exceptional growth in recent years. For instance, Intel estimates that there would be 200 billion connected devices by 2020. According to Cisco’s Annual Internet Report, in just three years, the number of devices connected to IP networks would outnumber the global population, with 29.3 billion networked devices by 2023, up from 18.4 billion in 2018.​
• According to 5G Americas, a wireless industry trade association, and a study coming out of various firms, 5G progress in connections and deployments continues despite the COVID-19 outbreak and resulting economic downturn. ​
• According to the Ericsson Mobility June 2020 Report, there are now more than 100 commercial 5G device models available worldwide, with increasing support for low-band, mid-band, and millimeter (mmWave) frequency bands. OTA testing would be critical for ensuring that 5G devices would perform in the real world.

Key Market TrendsTelecommunication and Consumer Devices Segment is Expected to Witness Significant Growth

• Some of the IoT devices suffer from very poor radiated antenna performance and cause a bad user experience. Unlike traditional devices, IoT devices come in numerous sizes, shapes, materials, and work in different environments. This presents challenges for OTA testing of IoT devices. Cellular Telecommunications & Internet Association (CTIA) have set up an IoT working group and has released OTA test methods for LTE-M devices.​
• Given the rapid development of the IoT industry, the importance of OTA measurements, and the existing standardization status, the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMA) is developing specifications for the OTA testing of IoT devices. These specifications include test set-up, test method, test procedures, and performance requirements.​
• The testing of 5G components and wireless devices with OTA methods instead of the traditional cabled methods currently in use is essential primarily to validate 5G technology and devices' performance. Though the challenges of testing the 5G technology are complex today, engineers worldwide are already developing new types of test instruments and methods, like OTA, that is necessary to make 5G in use everywhere.​
• Additionally, the major wireless service providers, like Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, among others, require their suppliers, first, to verify that the wireless devices could function seamlessly under numerous conditions. OTA testing plays a crucial role in guaranteeing that every wireless device delivers an enhanced user experience.​
• According to GSMA, in 2025, the number of 5G connections in China is expected to be 460 million, accounting for 28% of all connections in the country. The growth in 5G subscriptions is expected to create opportunities for the market over the forecast period.​
• Moreover, the number of smart cities worldwide has been increasing rapidly, which has been significantly increasing the number of smart and wireless connected devices. This is anticipated to drive the demand for OTA testing services for all the wireless devices to meet the industry standards and facilitate the assessment of receiver and antennas performance.​

North America is Expected to Witness Significant Growth

• The growing adoption of technologies, such as IoT and 5G, and the move toward autonomous vehicles in the region would drive the market's growth. Vendors such as Keysight Technologies and UL LLC are headquartered in the region.​
• In May 2020, Keysight Technologies, Inc announced that Rakuten Mobile had selected the company's 5G network and channel emulation solutions in testing, validation, and optimization of infrastructure and devices to speed the introduction of high-performance 5G services.​
• Rakuten Mobile, a group company of Rakuten Inc., is currently building a 5G-ready, fully virtualized, cloud-native mobile network. The company selected Keysight 5G solutions to enhance its test and validation processes' efficiency, critical to delivering high-performance end-user experiences that align with market timelines.​
• The company's suite of 5G network and channel emulation solutions, including the company's recently launched 5G Device Benchmarking Toolset, would enable Rakuten Mobile to efficiently validate 5G devices and network infrastructure, end-to-end, in OTA test environments.​
• In April 2020, Eurofins Electrical & Electronics North America, part of the Eurofins global network of laboratories, announced that it can now deliver FR1 5G sub-6 and FR2 5G mmWave over-the-air (OTA) pre-testing at its Santa Clara lab facility. For 5G FR2 (mmWave), Eurofins uses the ETS AMS-5705 Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR) chamber, an ideal solution for the 5G mmWave OTA test.​
• According to the Ericsson Mobility report, in the North American region, 5G subscriptions are predicted to account for 55% of mobile subscriptions by 2024. According to GSMA's 2020 report on the state of the global mobile economy, the North American region is expected to be a leader in 5G deployment in the coming years following deployments by the four major U.S. telecoms. The group estimates by 2025, 48% of connections on the continent would be on 5G networks, trailing only behind Asia at 50%.​

Competitive Landscape

The OTA testing market is highly competitive owing to the presence of several players in the market operating in the domestic and international markets. The market appears to be moderately concentrated with major players adopting strategies like product innovation, strategic partnerships, and mergers and acquisitions to expand their product portfolio and expand their geographic reach in order to stay competitive in the market. Some of the major players in the market are Intertek Group plc, Bureau Veritas S. A., Anritsu Corporation, Keysight Technologies among others.

• October 2020 - Keysight announced a new high-performance 5G base station test solution, based on the company's S9130A 5G Performance Multi-Band Vector Transceiver (VXT), which enables network equipment manufacturers (NEMs) and small cell vendors to accelerate validation of mmWave products according to the latest 3GPP specifications.
• January 2020 - CETECOM test laboratory in Essen, Germany, became the first laboratory in Europe to be accredited for testing 5G devices. The German Accreditation Body (DAkkS) confirmed that the laboratory is officially authorized to perform conducted 5G tests for the telecommunication devices.

Additional Benefits:

• The market estimate (ME) sheet in Excel format
• 3 months of analyst support

Companies Mentioned

Intertek Group PLC
Bureau Veritas SA
Anritsu Corporation
Keysight Technologies
Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG
Eurofins Scientific?
UL LLC
MVG (Microwave Vision Group)
SGS SA
CETECOM GmbH (RWTV GmbH)
BluFlux LLC
Element Materials Technology

Please note: This publisher does offer titles that are created upon receipt of order. If you are purchasing a PDF Email Delivery option above, the report will take approximately 2 business days to prepare and deliver.