DOCSIS 3.0 boosting broadband CPE market

Efforts by North American cablecos to move their subscribers to DOCSIS 3.0 service tiers are driving a surge in wideband activity, claims a report from Infonetics Research, which estimates that wideband CPE shipments were up more than 50 per cent on an annual basis in the first quarter of this year.

“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 for broadband access and video at Infonetics Research.

The global broadband customer premises equipment market, including DSL, cable, and FTTH CPE, grew four per cent in the first quarter of this year to reach $1.76bn, the US research firm estimates.

Chinese vendors Huawei and ZTE continue to duke it out for the top spot in terms of broadband CPE revenue share: Huawei took back the top spot in the first quarter of 2012, slightly edging out ZTE; both vendors are leading suppliers of FTTH CPE to China Telecom and China Unicom.

The cable CPE segment is reported to have shown the strongest growth in the first three months of this year, with revenue up ten per cent on a quarterly basis, driven primarily by DOCSIS 3.0 upgrades in North America.