After struggling in 2015, vendors of cable access equipment saw the category spike as much as 50 percent in the first quarter, with operators committing to aggressive orders of DOCSIS 3.1-compatible gear.
"Both Arris and Cisco, the two largest cable access concentrators, saw significant increase in demand for their flagship platforms," said Alam Tamboli, senior analyst for Dell'Oro Group.
In its latest telecom-industry report, the research group said the combined forces of PON and cable equipment sales pushed the overall broadband access market up 13 percent in Q1.
Huawei, Nokia and ZTE were the top PON vendors during the quarter, Dell'Oro said.
"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.
Speaking to investors during Arris' first-quarter earnings report on May 4, company chief executive Bob Stanzione said, "Interest in DOCSIS 3.1 continues to build with many customers defining strategies to support sustained gigabit speeds and provide the necessary infrastructure to support large scale IP video delivery."
Specifically, Stanzione said Arris achieved "record metrics in several key benchmarks" in terms of selling its E6000 CCAP platform.
For more:
- read this Dell'Oro Group press release
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