Dell'Oro: 1Q12 access equipment revenue slips slightly

The Dell’Oro Group says in a newly published report that first quarter 2012 revenue for access equipment (cable, DSL, and PON) including infrastructure equipment and CPE declined 8% sequentially. The shrinkage was significantly smaller than reported by Infonetics Research, which pegged the dropped at 22% (see “Reduced spending in China squeezes broadband equipment market”).

Cable CPE sales bucked the general trend, Dell’Oro reports, with strong sequential and year-on-year growth. But the niche’s success was not enough to overcome sequential declines in revenue and shipments for the other market segments.

“Typical seasonal weakness was exacerbated by several factors, including lower PON shipments to China after strong year-end budget spending, the economic uncertainly in Europe, and a slow start by North American service providers,” said Steve Nozik, principal analyst of access research at Dell’Oro Group. “Cable CPE was the exception with growth driven by users upgrading to high-bandwidth DOCSIS 3.0 service for which new devices are required.”

The report shows that in the first quarter, Cisco, with near record shipments, was the lead vendor in terms of cable CPE unit shipments. Arris was next with its strongest shipment quarter in over a year, followed by Netgear, which saw its cable CPE shipments reach a record level.

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