World Fiber Optic Test Equipment Markets

Research Overview

Increased Use of Fiber to the Curb/Home/Premise Spurs the Fiber Optic Test Equipment Markets

The growing deployment of fiber to the curb/home/premise (FTTx), which offers secure connection for communication through optic fibers, is driving the markets for fiber optic test equipment (FOTE). This use of FTTx could trigger the demand for multimedia services such as high definition television (HDTV) and music downloads, thereby boosting network operators profits. Since there is a lot of dark fiber - especially in United States, there is a consequent demand for FTTx, which is seen as a solution for triple play. The availability of dark fiber in turn galvanizes the installation and maintenance segment of the FOTE markets. The mounting popularity of high-speed applications and the subsequent increase in the required bandwidth due to FTTx deployment further drives the FOTE markets.

This Frost & Sullivan research service provides an overview of and outlook for the world fiber optic test equipment markets, detailing revenue forecasts by region and segments as well as providing market share analyses. It covers the following product segments: optical time domain reflectometers (OTDR), optical light sources (OLS), optical power meters (OPM), optical loss test sets (OLTS), remote fiber test systems (RFTS), dense wave division multiplexing systems (DWDM), and optical spectrum analyzers (OSA).

Companies Must Introduce New Technologies to Overcome Competition from the Secondary Equipment Markets

Fiber optics was first developed in the 1950s and over the years, it has found great acceptance in U.S. military applications. This technology has the advantages of not requiring heavy capital investments and reduced production costs. However, the secondary or used equipment market decreases the revenues of the mainstream FOTE market. "To tackle this, participants need to continuously introduce products to make the existing ones obsolete," suggests the analyst of this research. "The need to educate end users on new technologies is important to ensure faster adoption rates."

Small and Medium-sized Participants Focus on Expanding Globally and Seeking Niche Markets

Small and medium-sized test equipment vendors expanding globally are in an advantageous position in these growing markets, which are becoming increasingly customer-centric. "Enterprises are participating in niche market segments to improve their market shares and they also need to offer refurbished products to consumers who lack the funds to purchase new equipment, and hence opt for used ones," says the analyst. "These companies also have to provide customer support through software and hardware upgrades, services, and spares while simultaneously reducing their own production costs."

Inevitably, enterprises opt for mergers and acquisitions to expand their product portfolio. This new competitive strategy can ensure better price structuring, faster product delivery, and encourage test vendors to devise strategies for expanding and developing their product portfolio.