According to a newly published report by Dell’Oro Group, the broadband access equipment market is forecasted to grow 0.8 percent on average for the next five years (2024-2029), with total revenue expected to peak in 2028, as cable operators and fiber ISPs complete major DOCSIS 4.0 and rural broadband expansion projects.

“Quietly, broadband access networks are evolving into large-scale edge compute platforms, with the ability to enable service convergence far more quickly and easily than ever before,” said Jeff Heynen, vice president at Dell’Oro Group. “This evolution means that the revenue mix for broadband equipment is shifting over the next five years, with spending on traditional hardware and software now being supplemented by spending on AI and machine learning tools to facilitate convergence and service reliability.” 

Additional highlights from the Broadband Access & Home Networking 5-Year January 2025 Forecast Report:

  • PON equipment revenue is expected to grow from $10.5 billion in 2024 to $12.1 billion in 2029, driven largely by XGS-PON deployments in North America, EMEA and CALA, as well as Fiber to the Room and 50 Gbps deployments in China.
  • Revenue for Cable Distributed Access Equipment (Virtual CCAP, Remote PHY Devices, Remote MACPHY Devices, and Remote OLTs) is expected to peak at $1.3 billiob in 2028, as operators continue their DOCSIS 4.0 and early fiber deployments.
  • Revenue for Fixed Wireless CPE is expected to peak in 2025 and 2026, dominated by shipments of 5G sub-6 GHz and a growing number of 5G mmWave units.
  • Revenue for Wi-Fi 7 residential routers and broadband CPE with WLAN will reach $8.9 billion by 2029, as the technology is rapidly adopted by consumers and service providers alike.

About the Report

The Dell’Oro Group Broadband Access & Home Networking 5-Year Forecast Report provides a complete overview of the Broadband Access market with tables covering manufacturers’ revenue, average selling prices and port/unit shipments for PON, cable, fixed wireless and DSL equipment. Covered equipment includes converged cable access platforms (CCAP), distributed access architectures, DSL access multiplexers, PON optical line terminals, customer premises equipment  for cable, DSL, PON, fixed wireless), along with Residential WLAN equipment, including Wi-Fi 6E and Wi-Fi 7 gateways and routers.