Broadband equipment manufacturers earned revenues of $3.9 billion worldwide in the third quarter of 2021, according to Dell’Oro Group.
The market research firm explains in its new Broadband Access and Home Networking Quarterly Report for the quarter that PON gear continues its run as a major growth catalyst (up 15%) but was joined by a newcomer, fixed wireless CPE, as the quarter overall for broadband equipment showed a 7% improvement over 3Q20.
“5G fixed wireless deployments joined fiber as the primary drivers for spending this quarter,” explained Jeff Heynen, vice president, broadband access and home networking at Dell’Oro. “Despite supply chain constraints and increased costs, operators continue to focus on expanding broadband connectivity.”
Suppliers shipped 32 million PON optical network terminals (ONTs) during the third quarter of 2021, marking the fourth consecutive quarter to see global ONT shipments surpass 30 million.
However, shipments of other CPE suffered from the effects of component shortages, according to Heynen and Dell’Oro. Cable CPE and home networking devices saw shipments “down markedly” versus the year-ago quarter, according to the market research company.
It was a mediocre quarter all around for suppliers to the cable HFC space, with cable access concentrator revenue down 27% year-on-year to $257 million.
However, Distributed Access Architecture (DAA) equipment provided a ray of sunshine. Dell’Oro says that Remote MACPHY devices saw a major boost in popularity versus Remote PHY as both DAA technology types saw revenue increase year-to-year.
Dell’Oro’s Broadband Access and Home Networking Quarterly Report provides an overview of the broadband access market with tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices, and port/unit shipments for Cable, DSL, and PON equipment.
Covered equipment includes Converged Cable Access Platforms (CCAP) and DAA; DSLAMs by technology (ADSL/ADSL2+, G.SHDSL, VDSL, VDSL Profile 35b, and G.fast); PON optical line terminals (OLTs); cable, DSL, and PON CPE; and SOHO WLAN equipment, including mesh routers.
