Dell'Oro: Optical transport market to contract in 2009

Dec. 10, 2008
DECEMBER 10, 2008 -- The worldwide optical transport equipment market grew 7% in the third quarter of this year compared to a year ago. However, following this 20th consecutive quarter with year-over-year growth, the optical market is forecast to enter a period of contraction, declining nearly 10% in 2009, say Dell'Oro analysts.

DECEMBER 10, 2008 -- According to a newly published report by Dell'Oro Group (search for Dell'Oro Group), the worldwide optical transport equipment market grew 7% in the third quarter of this year compared to a year ago. However, following this 20th consecutive quarter with year-over-year growth, the optical market is forecast to enter a period of contraction, declining nearly 10% in 2009.

"This quarter marks the fifth year of growth since the telecom winter of 2001," reports Jimmy Yu, director of optical transport research at Dell'Oro Group. "It is only natural following this strong build cycle that there would be a market contraction regardless of an economic recession. Furthermore," he says, "the current global economic strain is forming an additional layer of compression on the optical market in the form of uncertainty that brings cautious spending in both consumers and enterprises. In recognition of this and other factors, we have revised our 2009 forecast to decline from 5% to almost 10%," adds Yu.

The top vendors in the third quarter based on market share continued to be Alcatel-Lucent, Huawei, Nortel, and Fujitsu. Of these leading vendors, Huawei was the only vendor to gain market share compared to a year ago. This gain was due to the strength of its DWDM long haul and WDM Metro revenues that combined grew nearly 90% year-over-year.

The Dell'Oro Group's "Optical Transport Quarterly Report" tracks DWDM long haul terrestrial, WDM metro, SONET/SDH, and optical switch equipment.


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