Date: 25/05/2011

Market trends in wired communication equipment market by Infonetics

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its first quarter (1Q11) PON, FTTH, and DSL Aggregation Equipment and Subscribers preliminary vendor market share report.

The market trends &analysis shared by Infonetics include:

1.The DSL, PON, and Ethernet FTTH equipment market reversed its small fourth quarter gain with a 2% decline in 1Q11, dipping to $1.96 billion worldwide.
2.The overall market's decline was led by a double-digit sequential drop in DSL infrastructure spending in all regions.
3.Despite the sequential declines, the DSL equipment market is up 36% year-over-year (1Q11 vs. 1Q10)
The worldwide PON market jumped 20% in 1Q11 over 4Q10, surpassing the $1.0 billion threshold for the first time ever.
4.Driven by the Chinese operators and sustained growth in Japan and Korea, worldwide EPON spending was up a whopping 46% in 1Q11 over 4Q10.
5.The North American GPON market should regain its momentum over the next few quarters, as Verizon re-initiates its FiOS buildout and Broadband Stimulus deployments continue.
6.Calix's Ethernet FTTH equipment revenue shot up 222% this quarter, as they capitalized on Broadband Stimulus grants to help US carriers roll out Ethernet FTTH networks.
7.Huawei and ZTE benefited the most from the Chinese operators' spending spree on EPON and GPON equipment this quarter, despite being equally hammered by the decline in spending on DSL equipment.

"The major story in the broadband aggregation equipment market this quarter is the dramatic drop in DSL ports in China, which points to operators there continuing their dramatic shift away from DSL. The first quarter is typically one of the slowest for DSL, but the seasonal effect was worsened by Chinese operators' continued shift away from traditional DSLAM deployments. Also, voice ports (DS0s) on FTTB/MXU MSAPs in Asia dropped significantly, signaling a shift away from adding voice lines to simply installing DSL ports," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access at Infonetics Research.