Alaxala

North American Traditional Telco spending on optical and packet hardware declined significantly in the 4th quarter, due to a dramatic reshuffling of capex spurred by the pandemic during the first half of 2020. Meanwhile, APAC Cloud & Colo spending exploded. Long term, hardware sales in all markets are predicted to return to growth in the second half of 2021.

North American optical and packet transport spending plummeted in North America as Tier 1s concentrated COVID-related capex in the first half of the year.

North America transport hardware spending growth shifted dramatically this quarter from Cloud & Colo operators to Incumbents. APAC Cloud & Colo optical sales grew again.

Third quarter results were better than forecast, especially in EMEA where both optical and packet hardware spending increased. North America spending declined while China spending was flat and Japan spending growth continued unabated.

Cloud & Colo optical spending in North America cooled while spending in APAC was unexpectedly strong this quarter.

Second quarter results were mixed. Forecasted growth in Q2 from sales pushed out of Q1 did not materialize as anticipated and carriers indicated that annual CapEx will not be increased – suggesting a flat to down second half of the year.

North American Incumbent optical spending was up almost 50% YoY while Wholesale, Cable/MSO, and Cloud spending all declined this quarter.

Vendors generally claimed a 5-10% reduction in sales due to COVID-19 operational issues this quarter. While demand increased, the inability to get parts, manufacture equipment, and deliver to end customers reduced sales in all areas.