Optical transport system sales resume year-on-year growth says Dell'Oro

Echoing reports from other market research firms (see “Fiber-optic network equipment sales up 27% sequentially in 2Q13”), Dell’Oro Group says in its new Optical Transport Quarterly Report that the optical transport systems market had a banner second quarter. With sales of $3.5 billion, the segment saw year-over-year growth in 2Q13, snapping a string of five consecutive quarters of decline.

“It was a great quarter for the optical transport market,” confirmed Jimmy Yu, vice president of optical transport research at Dell’Oro. “Demand for optical equipment took a positive turn in the quarter with higher revenues in North America and Asia Pacific pushing the global market revenue upwards by 8%.”

Growth in North America came from an emphasis among the region’s service providers on increasing metro capacity, which led to investment in DWDM system deployments. Fujitsu and Ciena benefitted most from this trend, which saw the overall North American market grow 18% year-on-year.

As has been the case for some time, activities in China led the Asia Pacific market. Expansion of mobile LTE networks in that country led to a significant roll out of optical packet mobile backhaul systems and DWDM long-haul systems for inter-provincial capacity, according to Yu. ZTE and Huawei enjoyed the greatest bounce from this activity, according to Dell’Oro. Overall, optical network hardware sales grew 13% versus 2Q12.

Yet growth in the second quarter of this year was not universal. The Europe, Middle East, and Africa (EMEA) market continued to be troubled, with sales declining in that region by 6% from the year-ago quarter. The Rest of World segment also saw a decline, shrinking 5% from its 2Q12 level.

Dell’Oro’s Optical Transport Quarterly Report covers manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and unit shipments (by speed up to 100 Gbps). The report tracks DWDM long-haul terrestrial, WDM metro, multiservice multiplexers (SONET/SDH), optical switch, and optical packet platforms.

For more information on high-speed transmission systems and suppliers, visit the Lightwave Buyer’s Guide.