Sluggish stimulus deployments affect FTTH sector

Reports out of last week's FTTH Council and Conference in Orlando suggest that the show this year didn't achieve the sense of anticipation and excitement that it had in past years. In large part, the excitement in recent years may have had to the likelihood that service providers flush with broadband stimulus funding would be investing heavily in FTTH technologies. Over the last couple of years, news of stimulus-fueled fiber deployment deals between mostly smaller service providers and equipment vendors, was a weekly--if not often daily--occurrence.

However, Light Reading has reported recently that while many deals are in place, the deployments have not been happening as quickly as originally envisioned, a situation that has in particular has troubled the vendors mentioned in those deals, including Calix Networks (NYSE: CALX). Calix last week said its third quarter revenue was being affected by project delays and other economic factors. Part of the problem may be that stimulus funding is not being made available from the federal government as quickly has had been hoped.

Still, despite the slowdowns, carriers are trying to push more fiber into their networks, but are looking for strategies that can give them immediate revenue to help them gain a quick return on the investment. That need is highlighting a push by some providers into the area of fiber-based business services and mobile backhaul services. Finding more service revenue that can help pay for their network investments is probably a good practice for service providers anyway, though it doesn't necessarily make things easier for vendors who were expecting something more.

For more:
- see this Light Reading post

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