CMTS, edge QAM sales up in 2Q11: Infonetics

CALIFORNIA, USA: Global cable modem termination system (CMTS) and edge Quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) revenue together grew 12 per cent to $464 million in 2Q11, on the heels of a 13 per cent increase in 1Q10, finds market research firm Infonetics Research.

In its second quarter (2Q11) CMTS and Edge QAM Hardware and Subscribers market share and forecast report, it also finds that in 2Q11, CMTS revenue actually declined in North America as operators slowed their purchases, however other world regions picked up the slack, more than offsetting the decline.

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"The second quarter saw another 18 per cent increase in CMTS downstreams, driven largely by growth outside North America, particularly Latin America. The lower cost of new CMTS linecards coupled with a steady rise in consumer demand for bandwidth continues to drive these purchases. Edge QAM revenue is up as well, driven by continued growth in QAM channels used in DOCSIS/M-CMTS, video on demand, and switched digital video applications," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst, broadband access, Infonetics Research.

Cisco's worldwide CMTS revenue share held steady in 2Q11 at 60 per cent in 2Q11, while Motorola's share jumped six percentage points at the expense of #2 player ARRIS.

Infonetics expects global edge QAM revenue to increase six per cent in 2011 and to become a larger portion of the cable equipment market as more operators move to CCAP architectures.

Infonetics forecasts the number of cable broadband subscribers to grow from 108 million worldwide in 2010 to 125 million in 2015.