Spending on broadband network equipment climbed 7% year-on-year, to $3.6 billion, says Dell’Oro Group. In its most recent Broadband Access and Home Networking Quarterly Report, the market research firm points to continued strength in PON fiber to the premises (FTTP) roll outs as well as an uptick in cable MSO spending on their DOCSIS infrastructure as catalysts for the growth.
“Fiber buildouts for residential, business, and mobile transport applications show no signs of slowing,” stated Jeff Heynen, vice president, broadband access and home networking at Dell’Oro. “Despite supply chain constraints and increased costs, operators continue to prioritize spending on their broadband access networks.”
PON ONT unit shipments exceeded 35 million for the second time in three quarters, Dell’Oro reports. FTTP equipment shipments have remained strong for several quarters (see, for example, “10G PON popularity helps drive 18% y-o-y 1Q21 broadband spending growth: Dell’Oro"), and the popularity of fiber networking led Dell’Oro to increase its five-year revenue forecasts for the broadband market as a whole last month (see “Dell’Oro sees more upside in latest five-year broadband equipment forecast”).
Meanwhile, cable MSOs finally appear to be getting back on track regarding network upgrades. Dell’Oro reports that cable access concentrator revenue jumped 12% year-on-year during 2Q21, to $247 million. Operators continue to address increased capacity demand via node splitting, which has increased DOCSIS license sales as well as new Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) node purchases.
The emphasis on newer infrastructure that can support 10-Gbps service delivery has meant hard times for DSL technology. The report asserts that DSL access concentrator sales dropped 51% versus the year-ago quarter thanks to a lower number of port shipments worldwide.
Dell’Oro’s Broadband Access and Home Networking Quarterly Report details 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 Distributed Access Architectures (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 (Customer Premises Equipment); and SOHO WLAN equipment, including mesh routers.
For related articles, visit the Business Topic Center.
For more information on FTTx technology and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.
To stay abreast of fiber network deployments, subscribe to Lightwave’s Service Providers and Datacom/Data Center newsletters.