3Q20 Transport Customer Markets Report

Cignal AI has issued the 3Q20 Transport Customer Markets Report. This report tracks optical and packet transport hardware purchases across four global regions from Incumbent, Wholesale, Cloud & Colo, Cable MSO & Broadband, Enterprise & Government network operators. It details vendor market share and provides a forecast for equipment sales to each operator type.

Highlights this quarter:

• North American optical and packet transport hardware spending growth shifted dramatically from the Cloud & Colo operators to the Incumbents this quarter. North American Incumbents are on track to grow spending much faster than Cloud operators during 2020.
• APAC Cloud & Colo optical spending increased again after its uncharacteristically large growth last quarter. Growth was spurred by Huawei’s sales to OTT operators in China, though Nokia also had a strong quarter in the region.
• Ciena maintained the top worldwide market share of Cloud & Colo optical this quarter despite a YoY decline in sales. Ciena dominates the North American market, although its annualized market share dropped from a year ago.
• EMEA packet transport sales were strong this quarter, though the total market declined worldwide. EMEA sales increases spread across all customer markets, with only Enterprise & Government declining.
• Enterprise & Government optical spending was up over 50% worldwide this quarter as it continued to defy market expectations. Every vendor grew optical equipment sales in the third quarter.  Huawei, Ciena, Nokia, Cisco, and NEC had especially notable growth.
• Nokia reclaimed the top market share position in EMEA Traditional Telco packet sales from Huawei this quarter despite YoY growth from Huawei. Huawei’s reporting schedule typically yields a  lower Q1/Q3 compared to Q2/Q4, which influences the leadership changes quarter to quarter.
• The fourth quarter will be challenging outside of APAC, with both Traditional Telco and Cloud & Colo sales forecast to decline worldwide.

Optical Customer Market Report subscribers can now download the latest Excel file and register for a Live Presentation on December 15^th, 2020.