According to ABI research, the worldwide broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments surpassed 146 million in 2013. Broadband subscriber net additions as well as existing customers upgrading to higher quality services will continue to drive the shipment of broadband CPE devices. ABI Research forecasts worldwide broadband CPE shipments will reach 154.8 million in 2019.
Increasing fiber-optic broadband coverage and adoption have driven fiber-optic broadband device shipment growth; fiber-optic CPE represents 26% of total shipments in 2013. As broadband operators extend their fiber-optic networks, increasing numbers of subscribers are switching from DSL based broadband service to fiber-optic services. DSL broadband CPE shipment dropped over 6% in 2013. “In many countries, DSL operators are committed to upgrade an existing network with advanced technology such as VDSL2 vectoring in order to provide higher speeds. Technology upgrade is expected to drive DSL broadband CPE shipments in the years to come,” comments Jake Saunders, VP and practice director.
Cable broadband CPE shipments grew around 2% to 55 million units in 2013. As cable operators push DOCSIS 3.0 deployment, cable broadband CPE which supports DOCSIS 3.0 standard gain market share. “Nearly two-thirds of cable CPE shipped in 2013 were DOCSIS 3.0 standard devices. ABI Research expects that DOCSIS 3.0 CPE will account for over 84% of cable broadband CPE shipments in 2014,” adds Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst.
ZTE remains top in overall broadband CPE market share in 2013, followed by Arris and Huawei in second and third positions respectively. Huawei and ZTE are also top fiber CPE vendors whose combined shipments represent around 75% of total fiber-optic CPE shipments in 2013.