According to the Dell'Oro Group, North American optical transport equipment demand declined 13% year-over-year in the third quarter of 2014. The majority of optical transport equipment revenue decline in North America was due to a 17% year-over-year decline in WDM multiplexers for metro applications.
"Optical equipment demand was quite robust in North America leading up to the third quarter," wrote Jimmy Yu, vice president of optical transport research at Dell'Oro. "Within one quarter, however, the optical market took a sudden and negative turn as major tier 1 North American service providers reduced deployments and cut spending on transport equipment. The reduction in optical purchases in the quarter was likely due to necessary network architecture decisions. The remainder of this year and next year may not be much brighter as one of the largest telecom operators, AT&T, intends to cut its capital spending in 2015, and is poised to refrain from certain network expansion until the FCC clarifies its net neutrality policies."
