Report: China Transport Thriving

S. SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- China's optical transport market reached $1.1 billion in the first half of 2001(1H01) and is on track to reach $1.9 billion for the full year, according to a recent report by RHK. The report shows Huawei led the transport market with 32% share in 1H01, up from 27% in 2000. Nortel displaced Alcatel from second place and captured 18% market share, up from 5% last year. ZTE remained in third place with 12%, while Lucent, which tied with ZTE for third place last year, dropped to fourth with 9%. Alcatel and Marconi share fifth place with 6% each of the market. "In the first six months of 2001, optical transport revenue in China hit $1.1 billion, almost surpassing revenue generated in all of 2000," remarks Matt Walker, Regional Director, Asia-Pacific, at RHK. "The market is on track to hit $1.9 billion in revenue for 2001, as RHK forecasted in June. Factors driving this market are deregulation, rising fixed line and mobile voice penetration, and emerging interest in data services. We expect China's transport market to reach $5.5 billion by 2004." In market share, RHK finds that Huawei's leadership in the overall optical transport market was the result of its strong position in the SDH segment. SDH is still the largest market segment in China, and Huawei dominants the more price-sensitive provincial and local markets. Following Huawei in the SDH market is ZTE, Nortel, Lucent, Marconi, Alcatel, Siemens and newcomer.RHK Inc.