Broadband: Asia-Pacific is the largest broadband aggregation market, led by China

[Marketwire] Market research firm Infonetics Research released its Broadband Aggregation Hardware in Asia Pacific report, which tracks vendor market share and market size for multiservice access platforms (MSAPs) and IP digital subscriber line access multiplexers (IP DSLAMs) in China, India, Japan, South Korea, the rest of Asia Pacific, and the region as a whole.

ANALYST NOTE

"The Asia Pacific region represents the largest broadband aggregation hardware opportunity in the world, with China leading the way. The amount of money being spent in China on broadband aggregation equipment is astounding, thanks to a swelling middle class, aggressive national broadband initiatives, and heightened competition among China's newly-restructured telcos to launch premium broadband services and hold on to subscribers. Although the overall DSL market is shrinking due to the shift from copper to fiber-based PON and Ethernet FTTH, the decline will be slowed by service providers deploying ADSL2+ and VDSL2 to deliver triple play services in China, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia, Australia, New Zealand, Vietnam, and Indonesia," said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband and video at Infonetics Research.

ASIA PACIFIC BROADBAND AGGREGATION HARDWARE REPORT HIGHLIGHTS

-- In China, Huawei and ZTE hold the number-one positions in the IP DSLAM and MSAP markets, respectively, in 2008
-- In the rest of Asia Pacific, Alcatel Lucent leads the IP DSLAM market in 2008
-- In general, there is a more nationalistic approach to vendors in Asia Pacific countries, with service providers often preferring to work with "favored son" local suppliers
-- Incumbent service providers across Asia Pacific are facing the same loss of land-line revenue as their European and North American counterparts, if not greater, thanks to mobile substitution, so they are turning to bundled voice, video, and Internet services to retain customers while leveraging their existing assets to drive higher revenue

China's appetite for broadband services creates world's largest broadband aggregation hardware market