Worldwide shipments of broadband customer premises equipment (CPE) surpassed 146 million in 2013, according to the latest data from ABI Research. Net additions to the number of broadband subscribers as well as upgrades for existing customers will continue to drive the shipment of broadband CPE devices, which will reach 154.8 million units in 2019, the market research firm says.
Increasing fiber-optic broadband adoption is a key driver for the increase in device shipments; fiber-optic CPE represents 26% of total shipments in 2013, ABI Research found. As broadband operators extend their fiber-optic networks, increasing numbers of subscribers are switching from DSL-based broadband service to fiber-optic services. As a result, DSL broadband CPE shipments dropped over 6% in 2013.
“In many countries, DSL operators are committed to upgrade an existing network with advanced technology such as VDSL2 vectoring in order to provide higher speeds. Technology upgrade is expected to drive DSL broadband CPE shipments in the years to come,” said Jake Saunders, vice president and practice director.
Cable broadband CPE shipments grew around 2% over the year to reach 55 million units in 2013. As cable operators push DOCSIS 3.0 deployment, cable broadband CPE supporting the DOCSIS 3.0 standard has gained market share.
“Nearly two-thirds of cable CPE shipped in 2013 was DOCSIS 3.0 standard devices. ABI Research expects that DOCSIS 3.0 CPE will account for over 84% of cable broadband CPE shipments in 2014,” said Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst.
ZTE Corp. (H: 0763.HK / A: 000063.SZ) remains top in overall broadband CPE market share in 2013, followed by Arris Group Inc. and Huawei Technologies Co Ltd. in second and third positions, respectively. Huawei and ZTE are also the leading vendors of fiber-optic CPE, and their combined shipments represent around 75% of total fiber-optic CPE shipments in 2013, ABI Research found.
ABI Research’s “Broadband CPE” market data covers worldwide shipments of CPE for wired broadband (DSL, cable, and fiber). The report tracks equipment by product type including modems, routers, gateways, and optical network terminals (ONTs).
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