Worldwide spending on broadband aggregation equipment increased by 9 per cent in 2014 to reach $8.2 billion - driven by sales of GPON equipment, particularly in China - according to the latest report from Infonetics Research, now part of market research firm IHS.
The global broadband aggregation equipment market, including DSL, PON and Ethernet FTTH, finished 2014 on a strong note, with fourth quarter 2014 revenue growing 7 per cent sequentially to $2.2 billion, the analyst firm says.
“The strength in the broadband aggregation market is due to another record year for GPON equipment, as operators around the world seek a flexible, interoperable technology for offering higher-bandwidth speeds to their customers,” said Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research.
“China leads in GPON expenditure, accounting for half of all GPON sales in 2014, while Latin America notched the largest increase in GPON spending, up 258 per cent. Fierce competition in Brazil combined with key FTTH projects in Mexico and Colombia helped expand GPON’s reach,” he added.
However, where one technology gained another one lost out. DSL spending was down 15 per cent in 2014 compared to 2013 as continued price erosion for ADSL and VDSL reduced revenue.
Despite the fanfare surrounding vectoring, VDSL port shipments were up only 3 per cent in 2014, pointing to longer deployment timelines than traditional, central office based ADSL. Infonetics believes that heavy competition is pushing providers closer to G.fast or fibre-to-the-home deployments (see The rise of gigabit broadband in Europe).
Unsurprisingly Infonetics found that the top five broadband equipment revenue market share leaders for 2014 were Adtran, Alcatel-Lucent, Calix, Huawei, and ZTE.
Infonetics' report: ‘PON, FTTH, and DSL Aggregation Equipment’ presents preliminary analysis for the broadband aggregation equipment market for 2014. The report provides worldwide and regional market size, vendor market share, forecasts through 2019, analysis and trends for EPON, GPON, FTTH, FTTB, PON and DSL aggregation equipment and subscribers.
