DOCSIS (Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification) channel shipments reached record-high levels in 2014 as cable operators continued to invest in technology that delivers higher data transmission speeds.
DOCSIS channel shipments more than doubled, rising 114 percent worldwide year-over-year to total 4.8 million, according to Infonetics Research’s 4Q and full-year 2014 CCAP, CMTS, and Edge QAM Hardware report.
Revenues from global CCAP, CMTS, edge QAM and CMC equipment rose 11 percent sequentially in 4Q to reach $493 million. For the full year, global sales increased 27 percent over 2013’s levels to reach $1.7 billion, according to Infonetics, now part of IHS.
DOCSIS Shipments
Commenting on the latest market data, Infonetics’ Principal Analyst for broadband access and Pay-TV Jeff Heynen said: “The continued growth of DOCSIS channel shipments is a strong sign of multiple system operators’ (MSOs’) ongoing investment to ramp DOCSIS bandwidth and services like IP video by splitting optical nodes and reducing service group sizes via CCAP,” said Heynen.
“We look for the upward trend in channels on CCAP and CMTS platforms to continue to grow as operators prepare their networks for DOCSIS 3.1 and remote physical (R PHY) architectures, though the growth will come principally from CCAP products,” Heynen said.
Other highlights of Infonetics’ latest market research report include:
- 2014 will be remembered as a transitional year from traditional CMTS to provisional CCAP deployments: From 2013 to 2014, CCAP revenue increased 997 percent to $1.4 billion, while CMTS revenue dropped 84 percent to $155 million;
- Casa Systems also had a record 2014, growing revenue 195 percent from 2013;
- In the key market of North America, DOCSIS channel shipments were up 139 percent in 2014 over the previous year, and revenue was up 35 percent;
- Infonetics expects the pending merger between Comcast and Time Warner Cable to have a direct impact on the North American region in the early part of 2015, exacerbating the usual first quarter slowness;
- N. American CCAP, CMTS, CMC and edge QAM channel shipments are forecast by Infonetics to drop 7 percent sequentially in 1Q15
