Cable entry community spending is having a second.
With deployments of distributed entry structure (DAA) upgrades on the upswing once more, spending within the class jumped about 40% within the first quarter of 2026, in keeping with Dell’Oro Group.
DAA-related spending hit a trough in 2025 as operators and their suppliers awaited entry to a brand new line of “unified” DOCSIS 4.0 chips from Broadcom that help as much as 1.8GHz of hybrid fiber/coax (HFC) community capability. These chips are actually being carried out in new merchandise and are getting used to retrofit distant PHY gadgets (RPDs) and nodes that required new RF trays, Jeff Heynen, Dell’Oro’s VP of broadband entry and residential networking, advised Gentle Studying.
That resumption of DAA investments, together with deployments tied to the subsequent section of Constitution Communications’ HFC community improve program, was the massive key within the quarter’s surge in cable entry community spending, Heynen mentioned.
He expects the remainder of 2026 to stay robust and drive report revenues for each RPDs and digital cable modem termination techniques (vCMTSs).
That uptick can be being seen by cable entry suppliers equivalent to Harmonic, Vistance Networks/Aurora Networks (previously CommScope) and Vecima Networks. Dell’Oro’s Q1 research does think about outdoors plant revenues (Dell’Oro’s new annual report on the surface plant sector shall be popping out in a number of weeks), however AOI, a high provider of HFC amplifiers and distant administration software program, additionally turned in a robust Q1 and expects cable-related revenues to speed up because the yr goes on.
Sub classes within the cable entry area have been additionally stable. Heynen estimated that Q1 revenues for distant optical line terminals (OLTs), which cable operators are utilizing to deploy PON off the node for edge-out builds and rural community deployments, surged 71% year-over-year. In the meantime, revenues vCMTSs climbed 28% year-over-year.
Among the many sector’s high suppliers, Dell’Oro estimates that Harmonic represented 48% of cable entry community revenues in Q1, adopted by Vistance/Aurora (31%) and Vecima (14%).
It is a totally different story inside the house. DOCSIS buyer premises tools (CPE) unit shipments have been down 5%, reflecting ongoing operator broadband subscriber losses. The FCC’s ban on new, foreign-made routers (a class that does embrace DOCSIS modems and gateways) might additionally amplify this unfavorable development. Though a latest wave of waivers are offering some regulatory aid, Heynen mentioned the ban might contribute to a low single-digit decline in DOCSIS CPE in 2026.
Technique shifts would possibly gas extra DOCSIS 4.0 community upgrades
Spending is on the rise as cable operators push forward with community upgrades, together with enhancements to present DOCSIS 3.1 networks and upgrades to DOCSIS 4.0.
These D4.0 upgrades are being led by Comcast, which has deployed the expertise to tens of millions of houses up to now. Constitution plans to deploy D4.0 to about 35% of its HFC footprint within the coming years, and it expects to speed up D4.0 deployments within the Cox Communications footprint after the merger closes. Mediacom Communications can be deploying D4.0 in a number of markets.
Heynen mentioned he will not be shocked to see Constitution finally improve the quantity of legacy footprint that shall be upgraded to DOCSIS 4.0. He additionally expects different operators that at the moment are enhancing their D3.1 networks to go together with D4.0 in areas the place they’re seeing probably the most competitors not simply from fiber and stuck wi-fi entry suppliers but in addition satellite tv for pc broadband.
“You will see some operators making a partial dedication to 4.0 in a few of their footprint,” he predicted.
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Dell’Oro mentioned the worldwide income for the broadband entry tools market reached $4.4 billion in Q1, up 2% year-over-year, however down 8% from This fall 2025.
Spending on PON OLT ports rose 6% because of deployments of XG-PON in China and XGS-PON in different markets. Heynen can be beginning to report on 50-Gig PON developments, noting that revenues for it are at the moment small and relegated largely to pilot initiatives at universities and high-end residential areas in China, together with some which are being sponsored by the federal government.
Turning to the client premises, Dell’Oro mentioned residential Wi-Fi 7 router shipments popped 73% year-over-year, fueled by dual-band shipments in China and Southeast Asia, with some contribution from US operators in help of their multi-gigabit broadband providers.
Even because the deployment of Wi-Fi 7 routers ramps up, utilization is considerably sporadic from one a part of the world to a different, in keeping with a new report from Ookla.
Ookla discovered that Singapore at the moment has the best share of Wi-Fi 7 customers (25%) on the planet as the federal government makes a push for 10-Gig speeds. Ookla famous that world Speedtest knowledge exhibits Wi-Fi 7 rising with barely lower than 2% of samples taken in Q1 2026.
