Infonetics Research: PON market jumps in 2007 as GPON prepares to take off in 2008, WDM-PON emerges

The worldwide market for passive optical networking (PON) systems, which includes BPON, EPON, GPON, and WDM-PON equipment, jumped 56% to $1.74 billion in 2007 over 2006, according to Infonetics Research's latest quarterly " PON and FTTH Equipment and Subscribers " report.

In the same report, annual port shipments for the emerging WDM-PON segment is forecast by Infonetics to grow at a 41% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2007 and 2011.

"WDM-PON deployments emerged in the Asia Pacific region and we expect to see good growth in this category," said Mark Showalter, the new directing analyst for broadband networks at Infonetics Research. "However, the immediate revenue growth opportunity is GPON in 2008, accelerating in 2009. We see a growing commitment from service providers to deploy PON-based FTTH and FTTB networks to stay competitive."

Other highlights from the report:

--  Sales of Ethernet FTTH equipment surged 89% in 2007 over 2006
--  The number of worldwide PON and Ethernet FTTH subscribers topped 12.6
    million in 2007 and is forecast to grow to 80.5 million in 2011
--  GPON is forecast by Infonetics to eclipse EPON in 2009 for worldwide
    manufacturer revenue share
--  The top 3 overall PON market share leaders maintained their positions
    in 4Q07, with Mitsubishi leading by far, followed by Tellabs and Hitachi
--  Alcatel-Lucent overtook Nokia Siemens for 4th place in overall PON
    market share, and leads the GPON market after more than doubling its share
    in 4Q07

Infonetics' report tracks PON equipment revenue and ports, including BPON, EPON, GPON, WDM-PON, and OLTs and ONTs with FTTH vs. FTTB splits; Ethernet FTTH equipment (CPE vs. service provider); and total FTTH equipment (CPE vs. non-CPE). The report also tracks PON, POTS, Ethernet, and DSL ports; and PON, PON FTTH, and Ethernet FTTH subscribers.

Companies tracked in the report include Alcatel-Lucent, Allied Telesis, Alloptic, Calix, Cisco, Corecess, ECI, FiberHome, FlexLight, Fujitsu, Furukawa Electric, Hitachi, Huawei, Mitsubishi, Motorola, NEC, Nokia Siemens Networks, Novera Optics, Occam Networks, PacketFront, Samsung, Sumitomo, Tellabs, Terawave, UTStarcom, Wave7 Optics, World Wide Packets, ZTE, and others.

For report highlights , log in to Infonetics' online portal from www.infonetics.com . For sales, contact Larry Howard, vice president, at larry@infonetics.com or 1 (408) 583-3335.

Infonetics Research ( www.infonetics.com ) is an international market research and consulting firm specializing in telecom and data networking. Services include quarterly market share and forecasting, end-user survey research, service provider survey research, and service provider capex analysis.

Press Contact Mark Showalter Directing Analyst, Broadband Networks Infonetics Research 1 408.583.3381 Email Contact