Global optical networking market totals $3.6bn

BANGALORE, INDIA: The global optical networking (ON) market, led by strength in Asia-Pacific markets, totaled $3.6 billion, down four percent sequentially and down 10 percent compared with 3Q08.

This is according to Ovum's preliminary 3Q09 results for global optical equipment networking vendors. 

APAC PON shipments to triple in five years

Dana Cooperson, vice president, Optical Networking, Ovum, said: “Regional results were mixed: the bleeding in North America appears to have stopped; Asia-Pacific, led by China, continues to exceed expectations; and EMEA and SCA remain moribund."

“Several vendors are benefiting from China’s ON spending spree, which is being propelled by 3G mobile builds, but none more than Huawei. On strength that extends far beyond its home market, Huawei has taken the top spot over long-time leader Alcatel-Lucent in the $15.2 billion market,” Cooperson added.

Top ten ON vendor share

With most of the major vendors’ 3Q09 results reported (Nortel being a major exception) and checked by Ovum, our preliminary analysis indicates that Huawei’s global revenues surpassed long-time leader Alcatel-Lucent’s revenues by over $100 million for each of the first three quarters this year.

Nortel leads 40G/100G optical vendor mkt

The Chinese vendor now leads the market by almost three percentage points.

Of the top ten vendors, only Huawei and ZTE, the dynamic duo of leading Chinese vendors, reported year-over-year revenue improvements, while quite a few showed sequential growth (Cisco, Fujitsu, NEC, Tellabs, and, by our estimate, Nortel).

Besides Huawei taking the top berth, ZTE appears to have edged out Fujitsu for the number four slot. Nokia Siemens, which was the number five vendor as recently as 3Q08, appears to have slid just behind Tellabs into ninth.

Cisco, meanwhile, just pushed out Ciena to re-enter the top ten.