Global revenue for the Broadband Access equipment market decreased 12 percent to $4.1 billion in 1Q 2024, according to Dell’Oro Group.
Several reasons have contributed to the significant drop in revenue from broadband access equipment market. The main reason was that North American broadband providers decision to cut their spending on Internet equipment by 25 percent due to subscriber churn, excess inventory, and high labor costs.
Comcast earlier said capital expenditures fell 1.3 percent to $2.6 billion in Q1 2024. Comcast’s spending on connectivity & Platforms’ dropped 3.8 percent to $1.9 billion, reflecting lower spending on customer premise equipment, scalable infrastructure and support capital, partially offset by higher investment in line extensions.
Verizon said its total capital expenditures were $4.4 billion in first-quarter 2024, compared to $6.0 billion in first-quarter 2023.
AT&T said its capital expenditures were $3.8 billion in the first-quarter of 2024 versus $4.3 billion in the year-ago quarter.
“The North American broadband market is in the midst of a fundamental shift in the competitive landscape, which is having a significant impact on broadband equipment purchases,” said Jeff Heynen, Vice President with Dell’Oro Group.
“In particular, cable operators are trying to navigate mounting, but predictable, broadband subscriber losses with the need to invest in their networks to keep pace with further encroachment by fiber and fixed wireless providers,” Jeff Heynen said.
Total PON equipment spending fell 9 percent from 1Q 2023, driven by a 22 percent decline in spending on PON OLTs.
Spending on Fixed Wireless CPE rose 29 percent in 1Q 2024, driven once again by strong growth in 5G Sub-6 Ghz unit shipments in North America.
Spending on DOCSIS infrastructure dropped 24 percent, with spending on Remote OLTs and vCMTS licenses seeing the biggest declines.
Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 Router and CPE unit shipments achieved significant growth.
Baburajan Kizhakedath
