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PON , cable equipment boost broadband access market
According to market information source Dell ’ Oro Group , PON and Cable equipment sales pushed the Broadband Access market up 13 % year-over-year in 1Q16 . The availability of DOCSIS 3.1 compatible platforms spurred strong investment in Cable Access Concentrators .
“ Both PON and Cable revenue grew double digits year-over-year . For PON , Huawei , Nokia , and ZTE were , in rank order , the top vendors . Nokia was able to secure the second-rank over the past two quarters with strength in North America . Meanwhile , all three vendors continued to do well in China ,” said Alam Tamboli , senior analyst at Dell ’ Oro Group .
“ After a small decline in 2015 , the Cable market rebounded in the first quarter of 2016 . Cable Access Concentrators drove the market with revenues growing almost 50 % y-o-y . Both Arris and Cisco , the two largest Cable Access Concentrator vendors , saw significant increases in demand for their flagship platforms . Both of these platforms have been available for over a year now and are compatible with DOCSIS 3.1 , the next generation of technology that will enable Cable operators to easily deploy gigabit services ,” Tamboli added .
France : Superfast broadband subs up 35 %
French telecoms regulator Autorité de régulation des communications éléctroniques et des postes ( Arcep ) has published its scoreboard for the fixed broadband and superfast broadband market ( services , rollouts and subscriptions ) in France in the first quarter of 2016 . SUBSCRIPTIONS : at the end of March 2016 , there were 4.5m superfast broadband
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subscriptions in use (+ 35 % in a year ) of which 1.6m to fully fibre access lines ( FttH ), which is 53 % higher than the year before . l In Q1 2016 the number of superfast broadband subscriptions ( maximum download speed equal to or faster than 30 Mbit / s ) increased by 265,000 to reach 4.5m , or an additional 1.2m subscriptions year on year ( YoY ). The majority of this growth is due to an increase in the number of subscriptions to fibre to the home / building ( FttH / B ) plans , which rose by 160,000 compared to Q4 2015 . The number of subscriptions to plans with a headline speed of between 30 and 100 Mbit / s increased by 130,000 over the previous quarter to reach 1.7m (+ 29 % YoY ). These include VDSL2 plans , all of which deliver speeds equal to or above 30 Mbit / s , and fibre access lines with coaxial cable in the last mile . l The number of broadband subscriptions – i . e . to a connection with a maximum advertised download speed of less than 30 Mbit / s – stood at 22.6m at the end of the quarter , which is down by 55,000 compared to Q4 2015 and by 255,000 over the year before , due a decrease in DSL broadband subscriptions . These customers account for 83 % of all broadband and superfast broadband subscriptions . l In total , the number of fixed broadband and superfast broadband subscriptions stood at 27.1m at the end of Q1 2016 , which marks an increase of 210,000 over the previous quarter and of 900,000 year on year (+ 3.4 %). ROLLOUTS : at the end of March 2016 , 14.8m households (+ 9 % YoY ) were eligible to subscribe to a superfast broadband service , including 6m via FttH (+ 37 % YoY ). l Operators have made substantial investments over the past several years , which have enabled them to deliver |
a wide range of access products over a growing portion of the country . As a result , by the end of Q1 2016 , alternative operators had unbundled 9,976 exchanges on the copper local loop , or 1,000 more than the year before , and now serve 92.2 % of all existing lines (+ 0.8 points in a year ). Of this total number of lines eligible for LLU , 12.2m have been actually unbundled , which is 180,000 fewer than at the end of Q1 2015 . This means that alternative operators have bought 13.6m wholesale connections from Orange , via LLU and bitstream . l Upgrades to the country ’ s coaxial cable networks are also ongoing . As a result , by the end of Q1 2016 , around 8.9m homes had been equipped for FttLA and HFC access – i . e . optical fibre to the last amplifier and coaxial cable in the last metres , delivering speeds equal to or above 30 Mbit / s . 7.3m of these connections are capable of supplying a throughput of 100 Mbit / s or more , which is up by 18 % compared to Q1 2015 . Within this base of potential superfast broadband cable customers , 3.8m of the homes passed are located outside of very high-density areas . l Operators are stepping up the pace of their fibre to the home ( FttH ) rollouts . As of 31 March 2016 , 6m homes were eligible to subscribe to an FttH plan , or 37 % more than the year before . FttH rollouts made steady progress during the quarter , with coverage being delivered to an additional 370,000 households , which translates into a 7 % increase over Q4 2015 . This comes on the heels of record increase the previous quarter of 583,000 additional homes passed , and 12 % growth . Of these 6m homes , 2.4m are located outside very high-density areas , and 850,000 are being served by public-initiative networks ( PIN ). Quarterly |
growth in PIN coverage stands at a very healthy 8 %. FttH rollouts in sparsely populated areas (+ 255,000 access lines ) were more substantial than in very high density areas (+ 149,000 ). Moreover , around 3.6m households – 60 % of all those eligible to subscribe to an FttH plan – now have a choice between at least two superfast fibre access providers (+ 32 % y-o-y ) thanks to network sharing schemes introduced by national regulation . l In response to requests from several stakeholders , and to ensure better monitoring of public-initiative network ( PIN ) rollouts and access product sales , Arcep is introducing a dedicated scoreboard this quarter . A steadily increasing number of indicators will be added to this new PIN scoreboard as they become available . Arcep is including network sharing rates which express the percentage of eligible PIN access lines on which at least two ISPs are able to sell a superfast plan thanks to passive infrastructure sharing schemes . On the 611,000 eligible FttH lines deployed as part of public-initiative networks in the most sparsely populated parts of France , the network sharing rate stands at 30 % of access lines , for an average rate of sharing of 60 % on all networks across France . l Arcep puts the number of lines capable of supplying superfast access ( equal to or above 30 Mbit / s ) via VDSL at 5.4m , or around 150,000 more lines than in the previous quarter . At the end of March 2016 , around 12,350 exchanges had been made VDSL2-capable by at least one operator , around 95.5 % of all lines . In total , at the end of the first quarter of 2016 , 14.8m households were able to subscribe to a superfast Internet access service , including 9.3m households ( 63 %) located outside of very high-density areas . |