The analysts at Frost & Sullivan have found in the latest market study of European fiber optic test equipment markets that the test equipment market in Europe has earned over $140.4 million in revenues last year. They estimate that in 2015, the figure can reach up to $165.4 million.
The insights have been gained based on the fact that fiber optics will play a crucial role across Europe to meet the growing requirement for greater bandwidth speed and growth of the installed base. Additionally, the deployment of fiber to the home (FTTH) cable networks will rise due to strategies in place to improve the passive optical network (PON) in Europe.
The test equipment market is filled with opportunities and with a high allocated operational expenditure directed at the end users, the need for combinational testers in the market segment will also increase.
Vendors in Germany and certain other parts of Europe are trying hard to replace fiber optic cables in place of the existing underground cables. Despite the growing demand for FTTH, which drives the market growth along with 40 gb/s networks in Germany, the main challenge faced by the vendors is the restricted right-of-way access. This restriction has hindered the market growth.
There is intense competition in the European fiber optic test equipment market where price pressure is significant. Additionally, the increasing price-to-performance ratio of products also makes it difficult for vendors. To establish their presence in the market, end-user requirements and customer workflow needs to be optimized along with a lowering in testing costs. Standardization will hold the key for the development of new products especially with emerging technologies like 100gb/s, 40gb/s and ROADM (reconfigurable optical add-drop multiplexer).