DSL Port Shipments Up 16%

BETHESDA, Md. -- According to DITTBERNER's recently released report “Broadband Access Quarterly Shipment Report”, DSL port shipments in the second quarter grew 3% quarter-over-quarter to 22.3 Million. This followed a 4% growth in the first quarter and shipments are up 16% year-over-year.

Alcatel remained the overall leader, with Huawei, Siemens, Lucent and Ericsson rounding out the top 5 vendors in terms of ports shipped. Alcatel increased its market share to 30%, the same as a year ago. Huawei also increased its market share to 20%, its largest ever.

Market growth has been steady since the large quarterly increase registered in 1Q05, but the mix of platforms and access technologies has been changing rapidly. IP DSLAMs now account for 57% of all DSLAM port shipments, up from 49% in the first quarter and 38% a year ago. The growth of IP DSLAMs is affecting the Broadband Aggregation networks which have migrated largely from ATM to Ethernet backhaul, due to this trend.

VDSL has grown to 6.7% of all DSL ports shipped, up from 5.7% in the first quarter and 5% last year. Network Transformations and the need to supply Triple Play services are causing the rapid growth of VDSL2, which was not even a standard a year ago. Deutsche Telekom currently has the largest VDSL2 deployment, having declared its intention to offer IPTV.

EMEA remained the largest region for shipments even though they declined slightly. Shipments to CALA and North America remained flat, but Asia Pacific recovered from a slow first quarter with a 12% jump in ports shipped. The North American market should remain stable as the AT&T acquisition of BellSouth proceeds, and telco emphasis shifts to fiber access. This shift is being driven by the need of wireline Service Providers to compete with a very large TV services offering from the MSOs. DSL growth over the next year is likely to be slow, steady, and concentrated in Asia Pacific and the emerging markets of EMEA.

Dittberner Associates Inc.