Asia-Pacific optical networking market nabs $5.14 billion in 2001

The Asia-Pacific optical network market--which includes SDH/SONET add/drop multiplexers, digital cross-connects, and WDM equipment--netted $5.14 billion in 2001, up 28% over the previous year, contends a new study from RHK Inc. (San Francisco). Last year's market share leaders have been replaced by new leaders, changes that stem from a "hot" China market, a strong year for 10-Gbit/sec-based long-haul WDM, and a move away from NTT-standard SDH in Japan (which benefits foreign supliers).

Huawei moved into the number one spot, jumping from a 10% market share to a 15.4% share after capturing 35% of the Chinese market. Lucent's share edged up from 11% to 11.9% on the strength of its Japanese WDM sales, while Nortel's share grew from 6.5% to 11.5%, after it captured 42% of China's WDM market.

The previous year's leaders, Fujitsu and NEC, fell to fourth and fifth respectively as they both lost ground in Japan. Alcatel's shares fell from 8.6% to 5.2% thanks to a disappointing showing in the Chinese market.

According to RHK analysts, the SDH/SONET market experienced modest growth in 2001, driven by new builds in China. The real story was in the WDM segment, however, which grew 92% for the year. Carriers are using long-haul WDM to build backbones, while incumbents have begun testing and deploying metro WDM equipment.

RHK's "Optical Networks: Asia-Pacific 2001 Market Share Report" covers three regions: Japan, China, and Rest-of-Asia-Pacific (ROAP), which includes Korea, Taiwan, India, Australia, Thailand, Indonesia, the Philippines, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, and New Zealand. The report is scheduled for publication later this quarter. For more information, visit the company's Web site at www.rhk.com.