Dell’Oro Group reckons the global revenue for the broadband access equipment increased 18% in Q1 compared to Q1 2020.
The market was worth $3.3 billion (€2.72 billion) in 1Q 2021. Much of the growth came from spending on passive optical network (PON) optical line terminal (OLT) ports, particularly 10Gbps PON technologies, according to Dell’Oro Group’s Broadband Access and Home Networking Quarterly Report.
However, Q1 2021 was down 6% compared with Q4 2020, which was the higest ever. Even so, unit shipments remained above 30 million globally for the second straight quarter.
Supply chain constraints
“The shift to 10 Gbps PON technologies is happening quickly and on a global basis,” noted Jeff Heynen, Vice President, Broadband Access and Home Networking at Dell’Oro Group.
“The only thing preventing further expansions are supply chain constraints and increased costs,” he added.
The total cable access concentrator revenue increased 15% year on year to $243 million. Though sales of DOCSIS licences were down, new hardware purchases helped push revenue higher.
The boom is down to a combination of the scramble to build out fibre infrastructure for broadband, accelerated by the pandemic, and 5G’s heavy reliance on fibre backhaul etc.