According to ABI Research, broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments are expected to reach 153.6 million by the end of 2015.
The growth in fibre-optic broadband CPE device shipments will be 12 per cent in 2015. However, during the year, the shipments for digital subscriber line (DSL) and cable CPE device will decline. The research firm underlines that since operators continue to upgrade broadband networks, the rate of consumer migration to more advanced broadband platforms is increasing. For example, in 2014 operators added 22 million FTTH subscribers.
ABI Research points out that the increasing fibre-optic broadband subscriber base is driving the growth in fibre-optic CPE shipments. Asia-Pacific accounts for more than 70 per cent of fibre-optic CPE shipments. Going forward, DSL CPE shipments are expected to decline by about 2 per cent in 2015. The DSL broadband device market will mainly be driven by the subscribers upgrading to higher speed platforms such as very-high-bit-rate digital subscriber line and G.fast.
At present, in the cable CPE market, DOCSIS 3.0 accounts for about 90 per cent of total shipments. Cable companies are now testing transmission of the newer cable standard DOCSIS 3.1 which can deliver up to 10 Gbps downstream speed. DOCSIS 3.1 devices are expected to enter the broadband CPE market in late 2016.
