Total global revenue for the Broadband Access equipment market, according to a new Dell’Oro report, declined to $4.1 billion in the third quarter of 2023, down 14 percent year-over-year (Y/Y).
The research firm said the quarter's lone bright spot was spending on Fixed Wireless CPE, as North American operators continued to expand their 5G Sub-6GHz subscriber bases. Total Fixed Wireless CPE unit shipments were up 1 percent from last quarter, buoyed by indoor 5G Sub-6GHz units, reaching just below 1.3 M units for the second time on record.
Total cable access concentrator revenue was down 18% Y/Y at $197 million. Remote PHY devices and Virtual CMTS platforms slowed this quarter as cable operators pulled from their existing inventories. Meanwhile, Remote OLT (R-OLT) revenue was up Y/Y but down from last quarter.
Jeff Heynen, VP of Dell’Oro Group, said the slowdown is due to several factors.
“The inventory alignment that began in North America has now migrated to Europe and Latin America, as both regions saw significant Y/Y declines in equipment spend,” he said.
Heynen added, "Chinese operators are once again accelerating their purchases of PON ONTs to support growing FTTR (Fiber-to-the-room) deployments.”
Sean Buckley
Sean is responsible for establishing and executing the editorial strategies of Lightwave and Broadband Technology Report across their websites, email newsletters, events, and other information products.