The worldwide radio access network (RAN) market is off to a slow start in 2022, but at least one analyst firm is maintaining its position that the overall market will post yearly growth. And that growth will be led by the market’s heavyweights Ericsson, Huawei, Nokia, ZTE, and Samsung.

Dell’Oro Group noted in a recent report that overall RAN equipment sales during the first quarter increased at their slowest pace in more than two years. Those numbers include hardware, software, and firmware.

The analyst firm noted that external challenges, including the oft-discussed COVID-19 restrictions and supply chain disruptions, hampered RAN sales through the first quarter of the year. This despite what it termed positive momentum from four years of market growth.

That sentiment echoed comments from market vendors that have reported disappointing early results backed by forward-looking caution.

Despite the clouds, Dell’Oro Group is standing firm in its expectations.

“Even with the RAN results now coming in below expectations two quarters in a row, it is important to keep in mind that it is still early days in the broader 5G cycle and fundamentals remain healthy,” Stefan Pongratz, VP at Dell’Oro Group noted in the report. “We have not made any major adjustments to the aggregate forecast and still expect the broader RAN market to record a fifth consecutive year of growth in 2022, underpinned by elevated investments in North America, Europe, and China.”

In terms of the vendors that will power that growth, Dell’Oro Group noted that the aforementioned quintet remained the market’s largest vendors. All save for ZTE led the market outside of China, while Huawei and ZTE continued to dominate the increasingly insular Chinese RAN market.

Dell’Oro Group did add that suppliers outside the top five did gain a collective 2 percentage points of market share during Q1.