The broadband access equipment market will decrease with a 2% CAGR from 2019 to 2024
According to the Dell’Oro Group Broadband Access 5-Year Forecast Report, the cable broadband access equipment market will decrease with a 2% CAGR from 2019 to 2024. The report suggests that the virtualization of network infrastructure, which is already taking place in the cable market, will extend to other equipment areas, and in doing so, will reduce traditional hardware revenue.
Senior Research Director at Dell’Oro Group Jeff Heynen commented, “Global operators continue to invest in their broadband access networks, but are increasingly delivering more capacity with lower-cost, virtualized hardware.”
In addition to the challenge of virtualization, Heynen also stated that subscriber saturation in some mature markets will further result in gradually declining revenue for broadband access equipment around the world.
The report also indicated that, as cable operators move to CMTS/CCAP platforms, revenue in that sector will grow from $90 Million in 2019 to $418 Million worldwide in 2024. The interest in these platforms from operators comes from the need to expand broadband capacity.
In addition, mesh-capable routers and broadband CPE units will reach 30 Million units in 2020, according to the report.
The Dell’Oro Group released an earlier report in December that revealed a 12% year-on-year drop in revenue in the 2019 broadband access and home networking space, primary due to declining interested in xDSL gear, whose revenue slipped 28% from the previous quarter, with all DSL variants showing weakness.
However, while xDSL gear struggled, the report also indicated that sales of XGS-PON optical line terminals (OLTs) jumped 371% versus the year-ago quarter.
“Operators’ continued push to increase their fiber investments is resulting in strong year-over-year gains in PON OLT ports,” Heynen commented. “Though XGS-PON continues to grow rapidly, 2.5 Gbps GPON remains the workhorse in the market.”
