North American network operator purchases of optical and packet transport hardware dropped sharply in the fourth quarter, according to the most recent Transport Hardware Report from research firm Cignal AI, while European spending trends improved in Q4 but were also down on an exchange rate adjusted basis.
“Despite the massive disruptions during 2020, overall spending declined only slightly in 2020,” said Scott Wilkinson, Transport Hardware lead analyst at Cignal AI. “But this quarter, almost all vendors felt the impact of capex pulled forward in the year due to operators scrambling to secure safety stock.”
Additional 4Q20 Transport Hardware Report Findings:
For the entire year of 2020, NA optical transport hardware spending was down slightly vs. 2019, with Ciena and Infinera reporting flat YoY sales and Cisco, Nokia, and Fujitsu reporting declines.
Optical sales growth in EMEA was steady for the quarter and for the year, while sales in China were flat. Huawei continued to lead market share in both regions despite political pressure and new design wins by competitors.
The pattern of NA packet switching and routing sales closely mirrored that of optical sales, producing a decline of almost -20% this quarter. Nokia sales grew for the quarter and the year, while Cisco market share declined. Nokia gained share in the region, and Ribbon led YoY growth as it secured a significant win in the region to boost sales by more than 10x.
https://cignal.ai/2021/03/north-american-transport-spending-plummets-in-q4/
