Dramatic growth in FTTx market, while DSL edges down

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA: There was dramatic growth in the FTTx (fiber to the X) and CMTS (cable modem termination system) markets in the first quarter of 2011, thanks to continuing next-generation access (NGA) network upgrades, finds Ovum.

According to a new market share report* from the independent telecoms analysis firm, the market for PON (passive optical network), FTTH (fiber to the home) and FTTB (fiber to the building) OLT (optical line terminal) ports grew by 35 percent in the first quarter of 2011, when compared to the last quarter of 2010, to reach 988,889 ports.

When compared to the same period of 2010, the growth jumps to a massive 182 percent with shipments into Asia-Pacific comprising a whopping 93 percent of the total. China was the powerhouse for much of this growth, propelling Huawei, ZTE, and FiberHome into the first three places for PON OLT port shipments.

Kamalini Ganguly, Ovum analyst and author of the new market report, commented, “Shipments also jumped in the Europe, Middle East, and Africa region and in the South and Central America region to their highest levels ever.”

Conversely, the DSL (digital subscriber line) market was an exception and edged down five per cent when compared to the last quarter of 2010. The fall was expected due to the seasonal trend at the beginning of a new year and was consistent with the four per cent sequential drop in the first quarter of 2010 and 2009. In addition, DSL growth has slowed or turned negative in some countries as subscribers churn to FTTB or FTTH connections.

Ganguly commented: “Despite the sequential drop in the first quarter of 2011, year-on-year (YoY) shipments were higher in all regions, many supported by upgrades related to FTTN and FTTB rollouts. In fact, the first quarter of 2011 was another record quarter for VDSL2 (very high-speed digital subscriber line 2) shipments, which crested to 4.8 million ports.”

According to Ovum’s market analysis, Alcatel-Lucent currently leads the VDSL/VDSL2 market with 42 percent market share, followed by Huawei with 22 percent, and Ericsson with 8 percent.