• The broadband equipment sector has been having a growth spurt in recent years
• And it’s not over yet
• The market is set to grow by more than 10% over the next five years, according to Dell’Oro Group

The market for broadband network equipment is set for further growth in the next five years, driven mainly by fibre project expansions, with the value of the global market set to hit $20bn by 2027, according to Dell’Oro Group.

The research company’s VP for broadband access and home networking, Jeff Heynen, who has just published a new report on the sector’s development, told TelecomTV that market developments point to “sustained” spending by network operators on broadband network equipment, with a five-year compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue of approximately 0.4% between 2022 and 2027.

A previous report from the company put the value of the market at $18bn in 2022 – see Broadband equipment sector set for another bumper year – Dell’Oro Group. That means the total global market for broadband network equipment is set to increase in value by more than 11% between 2022 and 2027.

According to Heynen, much of the market’s growth will be driven by ongoing fibre broadband investments in North America and EMEA over the next five years. That said, Dell’Oro expects Asia Pacific to maintain its position as the region with the greatest overall market value. 

“Service providers around the world continue to transition their broadband networks to fibre and retire their existing copper and DSL [digital subscriber line] networks,” explained Heynen. He suggested that broadband providers will “have to continue spending in order to differentiate their services not only by increasing advertised speeds but also improving latency and expanding managed Wi-Fi services,” as markets are expected to be increasingly competitive.

Revenue from passive optical networking (PON) equipment for fibre-to-the-home rollouts is expected to grow from $11bn in 2022 to $13.2bn in 2027, boosted by XGS-PON deployments in North America, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and the Caribbean and Latin America.

Cable broadband access equipment revenue is also set to rise, reaching $1.5bn by 2027. While revenue for fixed wireless access equipment is expected to hit $2.2bn by 2027, driven by shipments of 5G sub-6GHz and 5G mmWave units. 

- Yanitsa Boyadzhieva, Deputy Editor, TelecomTV