Digital Lifescapes

Cable companies around the globe continue to invest in network infrastructure to meet consumer demand for broadband internet access and better tiered service offerings. Infonetics Research reported that DOCSIS channel shipments rose to record levels in 2014 -- that's up 114 percent to 4.8 million worldwide -- as cable operators continue to improve their networks to offer services to customers at ever-higher speeds. Their fourth quarter 2014 (4Q14) and year-end CCAP, CMTS, and Edge QAM Hardware market study tracked cable broadband subscribers and equipment -- including converged cable access platforms (CCAPs), cable modem termination systems (CMTSs), coaxial media converters (CMCs) and edge quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) channels. "The continued growth of DOCSIS channel shipments is a strong sign of operators ongoing investment to ramp DOCSIS bandwidth and services like IP video by splitting optical nodes and reducing service group sizes via CCAP," said Jeff ...

The number of European households within a reach of high-speed broadband of at least 30 Mbps download speeds reached 62 percent of EU homes at the end of 2013, according to a new market study by IHS. The study, sponsored by the European Commission (EC), also shows that 4G LTE wireless coverage across Europe recorded a dramatic 32 percent increase in 2013. One of the main goals of the "Digital Agenda for Europe" is a universal high-speed (at least 30 Mbps download) broadband coverage across the EU by 2020. "According to our research, challenges remain in passing this target, with rural Next Generation Access (NGA) coverage continuing to be especially problematic," said Alzbeta Fellenbaum, senior analyst at IHS . Only 18.1 percent of EU rural homes had access to NGA broadband at the end of 2013. While this represents a considerable improvement by nearly six percentage points compared to 2012, a lot remains to be done if universal NGA coverage is to be achieved...

Telecom and Cable TV broadband service providers have continued to invest in their infrastructure during 2013. Broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments at the end of 2013 were expected to surpass 147 million units, according to the latest global market study by ABI Research. The CPE devices counted include broadband modems, wired routers, and home gateways. Despite a growing broadband subscriber base and increasing demand for advanced broadband services, broadband CPE shipments are only expected to grow to 150 million in 2014. "Increasing adoption of fiber-optic broadband services is driving the growth of fiber-optic CPE shipments," said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director at ABI Research . Fiber-optic CPE will represent 26 percent of overall broadband CPE shipped in 2014. Cable and DSL CPE devices will have equal market share of around 37 percent. As cable broadband operators rapidly extend to DOCSIS 3.0 networks, related DOCSIS CPE shipment is gainin...

Infonetics Research released its 2010 third quarter market study of the Cable TV hardware systems and services industry. The results are mixed; there are several significant declines, and the future is somewhat uncertain -- with no sign of an imminent recovery. After four quarters of sequential growth, a decline in the cable aggregation systems market was inevitable, and it happened in the third quarter of 2010, with a 23 percent drop in worldwide revenue -- CMTS revenue was down 27 percent; edge QAM revenue was up slightly. "In North America, CMTS revenue was down 30 percent, as Comcast and other operators slowed their DOCSIS 3.0 rollouts because they've either reached their homes-passed goals or they are waiting on new line cards," notes Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access at Infonetics Research . The Infonetics market study included the following findings: - CMTS port shipments and revenue declined in all world regions in 3Q10, including double-...

Why are the legacy U.S. cable service providers only now starting to address industry analyst concerns that they seem unprepared for the emerging alternative low-cost over-the-top (OTT) video offerings? Could this unfortunate scenario have been avoided, and did they have the means to counter this offensive? Traditionally, the cable TV industry has relied upon MPEG-based technology to transport digital video signals. But there has also been a longstanding awareness of Internet Protocol (IP) video solutions, according to the latest market study by In-Stat . There's three reasons that MSOs should have acted sooner: In comparison to MPEG, IP is considered to be less-expensive and more efficient. An integrated DOCSIS cable modem is a capable, and yet often underutilized, part of the digital cable set-top box. The availability and applications of IP video has expanded exponentially -- this ongoing transformation was apparent for several years. There's no mystery here. "Whe...

Infonetics Research released excerpts from its first quarter (1Q10) Broadband CPE and Subscribers market study, which tracks DSL and cable broadband customer-premise equipment (CPE) and subscribers, voice CPE, residential gateways, and voice terminal adapters. The first quarter of the year is usually one of the worst for the broadband customer premise equipment market, as net subscriber additions and new CPE sales slow after the much better third and fourth quarters. This quarter was also hurt by lingering economic difficulties worldwide, which are keeping many consumers from upgrading their existing broadband CPE to support new services. "In particular, we saw a big drop in ADSL CPE in 1Q10, as operators are focused on deploying FTTH and VDSL2 services and are spending less to market their basic broadband services. All in all, 2010 will be a difficult year for CPE vendors, as operators see fewer new subscribers and will do what they can to use their existing inventory rath...

Infonetics Research released the results of the first quarter (1Q09) edition of its Cable Broadband Aggregation Hardware and Subscribers market study. "On the heels of record-high revenue in 2008 ($1.23 billion), the cable broadband hardware market held steady in the first quarter of 2009, while the cable CPE segment dropped," said Jeff Heynen, Infonetics Research's Directing Analyst for Broadband and Video. This first quarter slowdown points to a challenging 2009, in which an ailing economy and aggressive telco competition will make adding new broadband subscribers difficult. Still, compared to the overall downturn in telecom equipment spending in 1Q09, the cable broadband market was somewhat of a bright spot, and proves that cable operators remain committed to expanding their DOCSIS 3.0 footprint -- transitioning from T-CMTS and I-CMTS to M-CMTS architectures, and introducing hybrid IP/QAM video services to support tru2way and DVB-MHP services. Highlights of the market ...