"2012 was a challenging year for fixed broadband equipment, with DSL taking the biggest hit as China continues its transition to FTTH," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research. "But despite the difficult road for DSL, VDSL remains a real bright spot, expanding among operators in Western Europe, North America and Latin America. Vectoring solutions and a long-term path to G.Fast are driving sustained interest in VDSL2."
Heynen adds: "Meanwhile, GPON equipment had an outstanding year, with China again contributing the most revenue and EMEA and Latin America providing pockets of strength."
Broadband Aggregation Market Highlights
- Global sales of broadband aggregation equipment (DSL, PON, Ethernet FTTH) fell 6 percent in 4Q12, to $1.56 billion, as a result of declines in spending on DSL equipment in EMEA and EPON gear in Asia.
- For the full year 2012, worldwide spending on broadband aggregation equipment was down 10 percent to $6.65 billion, with DSL equipment taking the largest hit, plunging 26 percent.
- Meanwhile, the 2.5G GPON equipment segment is up 30 percent in 2012, led by China, where a dramatic swing in technology choice by China Telecom and China Unicom is shifting investment from EPON to GPON for FTTH deployments.
- VDSL port shipments grew by almost a quarter in 2012, reaching 23 million worldwide, as Belgacom, KPN, British Telecom, France Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, Turk Telecom, and Telekom Austria deploy VDSL2 to keep pace with cable DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts.
- In 2012 in the overall broadband aggregation market, perennial leader Huawei lost some revenue share to its top competitors, and Alcatel-Lucent pulled ahead of ZTE for second place.
- The top three overall vendors also lead the growing 2.5G GPON equipment market, with Dasan Networks rounding out the number four spot.
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