Broadband access market set to boom in 2026

• The broadband access market will reach $23.4bn in 2026, according to a new report by Dell’Oro Group
• Increased sales of various equipment and fibre-to-the-home (FTTH) deployments are driving the market
• Fibre networks are increasing globally, in both importance and spread

The broadband access market is set to hit a value of $23.4bn in 2026, boosted by spending on deployments and equipment, according to new research from Dell’Oro, as service providers advance moves to connect as many households as possible with what is seen as more reliable connectivity.

The telecoms market research company is bullish in its predictions that the sales of passive optical network (PON) equipment for FTTH rollouts, as well as cable broadband access kit and fixed wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), will increase by 2026. The report says this will be driven by a desire from providers to expand the reach of their fixed broadband services to customers’ homes, as well as enhance the quality and reliability of these connections.

The company estimated that PON equipment revenue will grow from $9.3bn in 2021 to $13.6bn in 2026, mainly due to deployments of XGS-PON (a 10Gbit/s capable symmetric passive optical network) in North America, EMEA and CALA (Caribbean and Latin America).

It also forecast that the revenue for fixed wireless CPE will hit $5.1bn by 2026, driven by shipments of 5G sub-6GHz and 5G mmWave units. This prognosis falls in line with a recent report from the Global Mobile Suppliers Association (GSA), which sees significant uptake in 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) CPE, with shipments of such devices expected to double this year compared to the number of shipments in 2021 – see Shipments of 5G FWA devices expected to double in 2022: Report.

Dell’Oro also believes the cable distributed access equipment market will total almost $1.3bn in revenue by 2026, as operators continue efforts to deploy fibre networks and DOCSIS 4.0 technology.

“We’ve made significant upward revisions to our long-term broadband and home-networking forecast. Fibre infrastructure build-outs are resulting in more new subscribers and more CPE with advanced Wi-Fi technologies as service providers look to differentiate their services in increasingly crowded markets,” commented Jeff Heynen, vice president of Dell’Oro Group.

Multiple operators on every continent are striving to quickly build out fibre networks that provide faster internet speeds and operate in a more sustainable and reliable way, according to recent findings from UK broadband provider TalkTalk – see TalkTalk finds fibre networks will cost the planet much less than copper.

- Yanitsa Boyadzhieva, Deputy Editor, TelecomTV