Despite the availability of 10G EPON components and equipment, market demand outside of China will remain low until 2013, according to the latest report from independent telecoms analyst firm Ovum.
“10G PON Deployment Plans: An Update” looks at the market prospects for both 10G EPON and XG-PON. It states that components companies have been under pressure by equipment vendors and service providers to develop 10G PON components quickly.
Julie Kunstler, Ovum analyst and author of the report commented, “The pressure has worked. Multiple vendors have commercial-ready 10G EPON components, and testing has been carried out by service providers. However, while several provinces in China have begun deployments, 10G EPON equipment deployments will remain negligible until late 2012 in China, and 2013 for other global regions. Demand for XG-PON will also remain low, although the readiness of XG-PON components and equipment is lagging that of 10G EPON.”
According to the report, demand for 10G EPON and XG-PON has slackened for several reasons. First, China’s service providers now favor the deployment of FTTH over FTTB due to the higher operational costs of FTTB and increased competition around bandwidth. Second, although there is a significant market opportunity around the use of 10G PON for wireless backhaul traffic, commercial deployments are still few and far between.
In addition, the price of current PON equipment, for both 1G EPON and 2.5G GPON, has dropped significantly, widening the cost gap between 10G PON and the earlier versions of the technology.
Kunstler concedes that price is a hindrance, but she does not believe it will remain a long-term problem. “The costs of 10G PON optics and equipment will decline rapidly once purchase orders are signed and deployments begin,” she said. “A bigger problem is the lack of applications for 10G PON.”
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