According to Infonetics Research, DOCSIS channel shipments rose to record levels in 2014 - up 114% to 4.8 million worldwide - as cable operators continue to improve their networks to offer ever-higher Internet speeds.
"The continued growth of DOCSIS channel shipments is a strong sign of multiple system operators' (MSOs') ongoing investment to ramp DOCSIS bandwidth and services like IP video by splitting optical nodes and reducing service group sizes via CCAP," wrote Jeff Heynen, Infonetics' principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV.
"We look for the upward trend in channels on CCAP and CMTS platforms to continue to grow as operators prepare their networks for DOCSIS 3.1 and remote physical (R-PHY) architectures, though the growth will come principally from CCAP products," Heynen said.
Among the findings:
- Globally, CCAP, CMTS, edge QAM and CMC equipment revenue totaled $493 million in 4Q14, an 11% sequential increase.
- For the full-year 2014, worldwide sales of CCAP, CMTS, edge QAM and CMC gear grew 27% from the prior year, to $1.7 billion.
- 2014 was a transitional year from traditional CMTS to provisional CCAP deployments: From 2013 to 2014, CCAP revenue increased 997% to $1.4 billion, while CMTS revenue dropped 84% to $155 million.
- The transition from CMTS to CCAP resulted in interesting market share shifts in 2014: ARRIS captured 48% of global revenue in the cable broadband market, while Cisco had a disappointing year for CCAP/CMTS sales. Casa Systems also had a record 2014, growing revenue 195% from 2013.
- In the North American market, DOCSIS channel shipments were up 139% in 2014 over the previous year, and revenue was up 35%.
- Infonetics expects the pending merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable to have a direct impact on the North American market in the early part of 2015, exacerbating the usual first quarter slowness. North American CCAP, CMTS, CMC and edge QAM channel shipments are forecast to drop 7% sequentially in 1Q15.