While one of pay-TV's biggest vendors has struggled amid a wave of consolidation, Arris CEO Bob Stanzione told investors at the Jefferies Technology Conference that his company should profit handsomely in the coming years as demands on cable network infrastructure increase.
Sure, the price of bits is coming down, "but the number of bits being delivered is going up dramatically," Stanzione said. "It's doubling every 18 months … We're seeing more OTT traffic and more 4K content, and this is resulting in enormous growth in bandwidth usage."
And don't forget the network demands set to be imposed by virtual reality, he added: "If not this Christmas then next Christmas, all of your kids are going to want a virtual reality PlayStation."
Summing it all up, Stanzione said, "I think over time our business will see a shift to our customers spending more on infrastructure."
Not only will Arris's clients invest in DOCSIS 3.1 deployments, he noted, but the Arris's market for passive optical network (PON) will increase over time, Stanzione added, as cable operators push fiber further and further out towards the premises.
Meanwhile, the chief executive also used his 25-minute speaking opportunity Thursday to tout the retail market, for which Arris recently introduced a series of "Surfboard" modem and Wi-Fi products.
"We're organizing ourselves to be more of a factor at retail," Stanzione said.
Overall, he said he's "looking forward to things calming down in the second half of the year," with Charter Communications about to close on its purchases of Time Warner Cable and Bright House Networks, and AT&T finally coming close to digesting its acquisition of DirecTV last year.
"I think AT&T has gotten their arms around their new infrastructure," he said.
Finally, he added that Arris itself has made progress in the integration of Pace, which it acquired last year for $2.1 billion.
For one, Arris knew that with the acquisition, it would have a "very high market share" in certain product areas. This would actually provide "dis-synergies," Stanzione explained, adding to the lexicon, with certain clients seeking ways to diversify their vendor lists.
"But we were right down the fairway of predicting what [the revenue hit] would be," he said.
For more:
- visit this Arris investor relations page
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