Broadband remains a key asset as the coronavirus surges across the globe, which has led to a speedier transition to 1-Gig services.
According to Dell'Oro Group, cable infrastructure and customer premise equipment (CPE) spending surged past $1 billion for the first time since 2018. Total revenue for broadband access equipment increased to $3.1 billion, which marked a 1% increase year-over-year.
In addition to increased spending on cable infrastructure and CPE equipment, third quarter growth was also fueled by sustained spending on PON equipment, according to Dell'Oro Group.
Service providers have been upgrading their broadband networks this year to keep ahead of the capacity demands due to the coronavirus pandemic as students transitioned to online learning and employees continued to work from home.
“The Covid-19 pandemic continues to accelerate operators’ fiber and cable capacity expansions,” said Dell'Oro Group's Jeff Heynen, vice president, broadband access and home networking, in a statement.. “The net result is a faster transition to premium 1 Gbps residential services."
RELATED: OpenVault—Power broadband users and gig speed adoption ramp up in Q3
The increase in the adoption of 1-Gig speeds was also mirrored by OpenVault's Q3 report. The OpenVault Broadband Insights (OVBI) report for the third quarter found a 124% increase in customers that subscribed to 1-Gig speeds, which increased to 5.6% overall. OpenVault collects cable subscribers' usage behaviors and puts them into data sets.
Driven by growth in CCAP licenses purchased in North America, EMEA and CALA, total access concentrator revenue was up 6% year-over-year to $280 million. In July, Dell'Oro Group forecast that global spending on broadband access equipment and CPE was expected to drop 7% this year, dipping to $11.4 billion, before increasing by 5% next year.
In its third quarter report, Dell'Oro's report said total DSL access concentrator revenue decreased by 7% year-over-year, which was driven by a drop in ADSL port shipments worldwide.
Total mesh router shipments stood at 7.3 million units in the third quarter as consumers continued to add router systems to ensure whole-home Wi-Fi coverage.