DOCSIS 3.0 boosts broadband CPE market

CALIFORNIA, USA: The global broadband customer premises equipment market, including DSL, cable, and FTTH CPE, grew four per cent in 1Q12 over 4Q11 to $1.76 billion, finds research firm Infonetics Research in its latest report.

"The growth we're seeing in wideband (DOCSIS 3.0) CPE revenue shows that the infrastructure investments made by operators in DOCSIS 3.0 equipment over the past few years are now paying off in new subscribers and upgrades to existing subscribers' services," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst, broadband access and video, Infonetics Research.

The cable CPE segment showed the strongest growth, with revenue up 10 per cent quarter-over-quarter, driven primarily by DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades in North America.

The seesaw battle between Huawei and ZTE for overall broadband CPE revenue share continues: Huawei took back the top spot in 1Q12, slightly edging out ZTE; both vendors are leading suppliers of FTTH CPE to China Telecom and China Unicom.

"North America is a hotbed for wideband activity right now, with wideband CPE shipments up more than 50 per cent from the same time last year, illustrating that the cable companies are making a consistent effort to move subscribers to DOCSIS 3.0 service tiers. This is something we haven't seen until now," he adds.

FTTH CPE continues to grow, with 1.25G EPON optical network terminal (ONT) and 2.5G GPON ONT residential gateway revenue up by double digits in 1Q12.