Nokia Siemens Networks has been ranked at the top of the latest 2012 LTE Base Station Vendor Matrix, released by ABI Research.

Huawei and Ericsson claimed the second and third spots, respectively, while Alcatel-Lucent came in fourth in the company’s most recent evaluation of worldwide LTE base station vendors. This matrix primarily covers the competitiveness of vendors that provide LTE base stations for wireless radio access networks.

Nokia Siemens Networks takes the top spot thanks to its continued momentum in attracting commercial contracts, contributions to essential IP for LTE, and its initiatives in small cells.

“Nokia Siemens Networks was number one in our implementation score on the back of their impressive number of LTE/RAN contract wins and they were also number one in our score for innovation thanks to the extension of their Liquid Radio roadmap to now encompass Flexi Zone,” comments Nick Marshall, principal analyst, networks.

“Ericsson and Huawei were a very close number two and number three in our innovation and implementation scores thanks to their contributions to essential IP for LTE and continued market share gains, and compared to our previous vendor matrix we believe Huawei and Ericsson are closing the gap on Nokia Siemens Networks,” adds Marshall.

The vendor matrix is an analytical tool developed by ABI Research to provide a clear understanding of vendors’ positions in specific markets. Vendors are assessed on the important parameters of “innovation” and “implementation” across several criteria unique to each vendor matrix. Details of the criteria can be found on the product website.