A 32% year-over-year increase in PON equipment sales helped the worldwide broadband access equipment market set a revenue record in 2021, according to a newly published report by Dell’Oro Group. The market research firm states in its 4Q 2021 Broadband Access and Home Networking Quarterly Report that global broadband gear sales grew to $16.3 billion in 2021, a 12% increase over 2020 figures. Fixed wireless CPE also proved a hotspot, Dell’Oro says in the report.
Total PON ONT unit shipments set a record of 140 million units in 2021, as such devices avoided at least some of the supply chain constraints seen in the cable CPE market. Nevertheless, technology vendors who serve cable MSOs weren’t entirely gloomy; cable access concentrator revenue increased 4% to just over $1 billion in 2021, Dell’Oro states. Growth in Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) deployments helped offset declines in traditional CCAP licenses.
“2021 was a record year for PON equipment spending, with some of the highest growth coming from the North American market, where expansion projects and fiber overbuilds are picking up considerably,” said Jeff Heynen, vice president, broadband access and home networking at Dell’Oro Group. “These fiber expansion projects show no signs of slowing heading into 2022.”
Dell’Oro’s Broadband Access and Home Networking Quarterly Report provides an overview of the broadband access market with tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and port/unit shipments for cable, DSL, and PON equipment. Covered equipment includes Converged Cable Access Platforms (CCAP) and DAA; Digital Subscriber Line Access Multiplexers (DSLAMs) by such technologies as ADSL/ADSL2+, G.SHDSL, VDSL, VDSL Profile 35b, and G.fast; PON optical line terminals (OLTs); cable, DSL, and PON CPE; and SOHO WLAN equipment, including mesh routers.
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