Nearly 90 million DOCSIS 3.0 modems and gateway devices were shipped over the last 12 quarters and the momentum is showing “no signs of stopping,” Infonetics Research said in its latest report on the broadband consumer premises equipment (CPE) market.
The report, which tracks CPE shipments for DSL, FTTH, LTE and cable through the third quarter of 2014, also found that global broadband CPE shipments totaled $2.6 billion in Q3, up 6% from the second quarter.
Of that total, a cumulative 89.1 million DOCSIS 3.0 units where shipped over a 12-month period (Q4 2011 through Q3 2014). Among more recent trends, revenues tied to D3.0 gateways, which include home networking support, rose 14% sequentially in Q3, the research firm said.
"The current momentum behind DOCSIS 3.0 continued again in 3Q14 and shows no signs of stopping,” Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics said, in a statement. “Cable operators worldwide are using the technology to gain broadband subscriber share. Even if MSOs aren't currently offering DOCSIS 3.0 services, prices on the D3 devices have come down to the point where it makes sense to move forward with them.”
And there was even some D3.0 product news this week, as MaxLinear announced that Hitron Technologies will use its MxL268 Full-Spectrum Capture 32-channel front-end receiver and MxL231 programmable gain amplifier in a new family of DOCSIS 3.0 CPE that can deliver downstream bursts of up to 1.6 Gbps. Hitron is showing off its new 32-channel DOCSIS 3.0 products this week at the International CES in Las Vegas.
Next on the horizon is DOCSIS 3.1, a new platform that will delivery multi-gigabit speeds over HFC networks. On Tuesday, Broadcom introduced its first D3.1-based reference design, the BCM 93390. STMicro, meanwhile, is demonstrating its D3.1 technology at CES.
