Infonetics: China spends big bucks on optical networking

April 9, 2008
APRIL 9, 2008 -- In 2007, China's spending on optical network hardware was more than double Japan's and dwarfed the optical spending of India, the Republic of Korea, and all other countries in Asia Pacific, according to a new report from market analyst firm Infonetics Research.

APRIL 9, 2008 -- In 2007, China's spending on optical network hardware was more than double Japan's and dwarfed the optical spending of India, the Republic of Korea, and all other countries in Asia Pacific, according to a new report from market analyst firm Infonetics Research (search for Infonetics Research).

The report, Optical Network Hardware in Asia Pacific: China, Japan, India, and Republic of Korea, says China represents 43% of the $3.4 billion spent on optical hardware in 2007 by Asia Pacific countries.

"China has over 1.3 billion people, yet only about 500 million mobile subscribers and 51 million broadband subscribers, so they have lots of room for mobile, broadband, and teledensity growth. The Chinese government considers telecom infrastructure an important part of their ability to compete, setting a goal of 75 million broadband users by 2008 to help present the 'new China' to the rest of the world for the Beijing Olympics. Reports from China indicate a telecom restructuring may take place soon, quite possibly in 2008, which would slow capital spending for a year or so during the restructurings, mergers, and acquisitions, then spending will resume, " said Michael Howard, principal analyst at Infonetics Research.

Other highlights from the report include:


  • Asia Pacific represents close to 1/3 of worldwide total telecom capex, and about 1/4 of worldwide optical equipment spending.
  • After China, Japan has the second largest single-country optical spending in Asia Pacific, followed by India and Korea, fairly close to each other in third and fourth.
  • The rest of Asia Pacific has five countries with large capex and optical expenditures: Australia, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Taiwan.
  • Asia Pacific countries are expected to significantly increase their spending on metro and long-haul WDM equipment over the next four years.
  • In 2007, 75% of optical hardware purchased by Asia Pacific countries was metro equipment and 25% was long-haul equipment.
  • Huawei has been the optical network hardware market leader in Asia Pacific since at least 2003, growing their share steadily over the years; Alcatel-Lucent is the #2 player in Asia Pacific, followed by ZTE and NEC.
Infonetics' report tracks metro and long-haul optical network hardware split by SDH and WDM in China, Japan, India, and the Republic of Korea, plus the total Asia Pacific region. The service provides market share, market size, and forecasts by country and region through 2011. Companies tracked include Alcatel-Lucent, Cisco, ECI, Ericsson-Marconi, Fujitsu, Huawei, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Nortel, ZTE, and others.

Visit Infonetics Research

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