Total cable access “concentrator” revenue declined 31% year over year in the third quarter to $287 million, driven by a continued slowdown in North American CCAP license purchases, according to research company Dell’Oro Group.
The finding, nonetheless, represented an improvement over the second quarter, during which cable access equipment revenue dropped 40% to $237 million.
Overall broadband access equipment revenue decreased 12% in Q3, with a 371% spike in XGS-PON OLT revenue, as well continued growth in XG-PON1 OLT ports and CPE, offsetting the slump in North America converged cable access platform (CCAP) sales.
“Operators’ continued push to increase their fiber investments is resulting in strong Y/Y gains in PON OLT ports,” said Jeff Heynen, Senior Research Director at Dell’Oro Group.
The U.S. cable access market continues to be roiled by technological disruption, with operators pausing orders as they plan migration to network virtualization and distributed access architecture (DAA).
Perhaps more impactful, leading operators Comcast and Charter Communications are reporting healthy growth in subscribers and revenue for broadband services, reducing the incentive to spend money on their networks.
