xDSL Test Equipment: The Strong Presence of Service Providers in Europe Will Sustain Demand, Says Frost & Sullivan

Digitisation is expected to facilitate service convergence through network upgrades, which, in turn, will spawn a need for test equipment to conduct performance and interoperability testing for very high bit rate DSL2 (VDSL2).

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan,), European xDSL Test Equipment Market, finds that the market earned revenues of €56.7 million in 2010 and estimates this to reach €92.3 million in 2016.

VDSL2 technology will enable network service providers to offer high-definition Internet Protocol TV (HD IPTV) and standard definition (SD) IPTV over multiple channels. IPTV has found rapid uptake in the European market, with the number of DSL-based IPTV subscribers touching 15.5 million in March 2010.

“The popularity of such new broadband services will go a long way in enhancing the handheld xDSL test equipment market,” says Frost & Sullivan Senior Research Analyst Srihari Padmanabhan. “This is because the new services will require on-demand test and monitoring to accurately identify, diagnose and isolate network problems for rapid trouble resolution.”

R&D and functional type test equipment will find many takers among service providers and equipment manufacturers to ease interoperability testing and upgrades from asymmetric DSL2+ (ADSL2+) to VDSL2.

The xDSL market may also offer a plethora of opportunities, but test equipment manufacturers will be hard pressed to keep pace with the technological innovations and constant changes in the network architecture. In addition, the global economic slowdown has impeded service providers’ efforts to prepare their networks for delivering high-bandwidth services such as video on demand.

Economic conditions and competition limit service providers’ overall revenue per user, whereas there is no decline in the demand for more services. In the long term, these factors are likely to restrain services providers from investing in new test equipment. However, considering the range of novel services on offer, there is a need to test them for noise, quality of experience (QoE) and quality of service (QoS).

“Technicians require a portable test solution that can support multiple technologies including ADSL2+ and VDSL2,” notes Padmanabhan. “Introducing such test equipment in the market will help manufacturers address the needs of triple play and IPTV testing markets.”

If you are interested in more information on this study, please send an email with your contact details to Anna Zanchi, Corporate Communications, at anna.zanchi@frost.com

European xDSL Test Equipment Market is part of the Test & Measurement Growth Partnership Services program, which also includes research in the following markets: World Network Performance Monitoring and Management Solutions Market for Enterprises, World SONET/SDH Related Test Equipment Market, World Fiber Optic Test Equipment Markets, World Wireless Protocol Analyzers and Network Monitoring Systems Market. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated following extensive interviews with market participants.