PON continues to occupy the mainstream supply while TWDM PON will be a future trend.
Taiwan’s fiber-optic equipment manufacturers expect production value to rise more than 17 percent this year, buoyed by surging demand from the digital home sector and amid government’s regular infrastructure investment.
The island’s output of cables and related products amounted to $875 million in 2011, and is forecast to reach $1 billion this year, according to the Photonics Industry & Technology Development Association or PIDA.
The sector targets $1.2 billion by 2013, a 33 percent jump from last year’s record. Exports of connectors hit $690 million last year and are seen to touch $756 million by end-2012.
The selection in Taiwan consists of materials, cables, active and passive components, DWDM and Epi wafers.
The major players include Visual Photonics, a supplier of the last for laser sources. Baycom Opto-Electronics Technology Co. Ltd, which undertakes vertically integrated manufacturing services, offers patch cords, adapters, connectors, optical couplers, DWDM and attenuators.
PON is still the mainstream technology of fiber-optic communication. APON, BPON, EPON and GPON constitute the xPON category. Suppliers have extended the operating distance to 5km from 1km in 2010, to meet the requirements of digital home, HDTV and VoD applications. The transfer rate can reach 100Mbps.
TWDM PON, a combination of TDM and WDM PONs, is a future trend, according to the Taiwan Research Institute.
At present, it is GPON that is widely used in most countries. Deployments, however, have been shrinking in Singapore, Australia, India and Western Europe, according to Ovum.
Fiber to the home, meanwhile, will gain momentum because of the decreasing costs of related equipment and requisite operating expense than fiber to the building.
The former’s competitive positioning on bandwidth for video services such as IPTV/VoD and HDTV multiroom will likewise drive growth.
FTTx is projected to dominate the global wireline market in five years. Worldwide subscribers are expected to account for 29 percent of broadband subscriptions by 2016.
Half will come from the Asia-Pacific region, 16 percent from Europe and 14 percent from North America.
India and mainland China are the rapidly growing user bases in Asia, spurred by government support for basic infrastructure.
Despite these developments, Taiwan makers remain dependent on imported materials and components due to foreign control of key technologies. The inputs include optical fiber, jelly compound, aromatic polyamide fiber and PE, which are key to the manufacture of fiberoptic cables. In addition, companies face design piracy and intense price competition, especially from mainland suppliers.
To cope with these challenges, manufacturers such as Baycom strive to boost R&D capability and product value. They are also establishing strategic alliances with major international players to facilitate technology transfer.
Developments in Taiwan reflect worldwide trends, with global yield predicted to reach $32.5 billion and $35.9 billion in 2012-13, up from $29.2 billion in 2011.
Last year, fiber-optic communication equipment, which takes up the bulk of production, posted $15.9 billion. Components and cables reached $6 billion and $7.4 billion, respectively. The three segments target $17.3 billion, $6.8 billion and $8.4 billion this year.
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