Telecommunications equipment (also telecoms equipment or communications equipment) is a hardware which is 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 ***Voice over IP switches ***Virtual Reality (VR) *Transmission equipment **Transmission lines ***Optical fiber ***Local loops **Base transceiver stations **Free-space optical communication ***Laser communication in space **Multiplexers **Communications satellites *Customer premises equipment (CPE) **Customer office terminal **Private switches **Local area networks (LANs) **Modems **Mobile phones **Landline telephones **Answering machines **Teleprinters **Fax machines **Pagers **Routers **Wireless devices

Semiconductors

Most of the essential elements of modern telecommunication are built from MOSFETs (metal-oxide-semiconductor field-effect transistors), including mobile devices, transceivers, base station modules, routers, RF power amplifiers, microprocessors, memory chips, and telecommunication circuits. As of 2005, telecommunications equipment account for 16.5% of the annual microprocessor market.

Vendors

The world's largest telecommunications equipment vendors by revenues in 2017 are:

See also

*Networking hardware *List of networking hardware vendors *List of telephone switches *Network equipment provider

References

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