Ethernet equipment leads global telecoms capex

The world market grew by a very respectable 13.4% ( to $ 31.7 billion ) in 2011 and this followed an amazing 43% hike in 2010 so this segment is not surprisingly growing at a noticeably faster rate than total capital expenditure on telecoms equipment as a whole. Within this sector, the fastest growing sub-sector is accounted for by microwave backhaul which is usually the quickest and least expensive solution wherever it can be utilised.
Overall it seems that every major player in global telecoms has IP NGN transformation projects in progress and these will involve plenty of Ethernet as they replace legacy SONET /SDH equipment over time. Other noticeable trends identified by the report include the fact that mobile backhaul continues to be a major Carrier Ethernet growth area with IP / Ethernet equipment accounting for over 90 % of all expenditure on mobile backhaul equipment in 2011. Apart from the growth in traffic, the market is clearly being driven by service providers moving to IP packet-based next generation networks which rely heavily on IP, MPLS, and Ethernet technologies. Finally, it emerges that the largest carrier Ethernet equipment segments by carrier spend are IP routers, carrier Ethernet switches (CES), and optical gear.
Finally, the report concludes that Carrier Ethernet equipment sales are likely to top $ 42 billion in 2016 as Ethernet remains a less expensive method of interconnecting telecoms equipment whether routers to routers, DSLAMs to routers, or routers to optical gear. Most of this equipment spend would appear to be represented by IP routers, Carrier Ethernet Switches and optical gear.
It goes without saying, of course, that the boom in development of Chinese telecoms infrastructure continues to act as a major stimulus to telecoms equipment sales generally. The spike in the mobile backhaul market in 2011was, for example, due largely to a surge in in Ethernet mobile backhaul router purchases in China. The principal analyst and co-founder of Infonetics, Michael Howard, concludes "We expect the China surge to subside in 2012, impacting the overall market; then slow. Steady growth in this already-large market should resume in 2013."