The broadband access equipment market is set for a substantial rebound in 2026, following a period of diminished investment by network operators. A fresh report from Dell’Oro Group highlights a looming recovery, particularly driven by anticipated investment in cable infrastructure upgrades.
Final quarter data from 2025 revealed a modest spike of 7% quarter-over-quarter in broadband access equipment market revenue, reaching an influential $4.8 billion. Yet the year as a whole showed stagnant growth, with providers’ capital expenditure significantly tempered during the last three years. Operators redirected their focus towards subscriber acquisition and incremental footprint expansion, postponing infrastructure investments.
Vice President at Dell’Oro Group, Jeff Heynen, explained the trend shift from infrastructure investment to customer-premises equipment (CPE). This change marked the last few years and is set to evolve further. He said, “Broadband service providers have been managing their equipment spending over the last three years by focusing on subscriber acquisition.”
Fiber optic networks and 5G fixed wireless access (FWA) equipment saw peculiar surge cycles: PON ONT shipment volumes hit a notable 158 million units globally. Meanwhile, 5G FWA CPE shipments gained an impressive 11% annual increase in 2025. Interestingly, Asia fueled a swift 211% increase in residential Wi-Fi 7 router shipments, benefiting from competitive lower prices.
However, DOCSIS equipment witnessed a concerning 21% year-over-year spend decrease, with remote PHY device acquisition plunging by nearly half. The tables appear set to turn in 2026, with anticipated resurgence catalyzed by imminent DOCSIS 4.0 and DAA investments among North American operators like Comcast and Charter Communications.
Heynen noted, “We expect to see a significant increase in spending on DAA and outside plant equipment to support improved DOCSIS 3.1 and DOCSIS 4.0 deployments for cable operators in 2026… spending on cable access concentrators, remote PHY devices, remote OLTs, and virtual CMTS platforms to jump 29% from 2025.” Notably, this spending surge is expected to be concentrated in North America.
The patchwork approach to Wi-Fi 7 adoption remains. Some operators are opting for integrated gateways, while others favor flexible two-box setups, utilizing DOCSIS modems paired with advanced routers and mesh networking systems, opting to prolong comprehensive Wi-Fi 7 investments anticipating the eventual rollout of Wi-Fi 8.
Dell’Oro expects broadband access equipment spending to climax at $18.8 billion by 2028, with a modest 0.3% average annual growth until 2030, propelled primarily by DOCSIS 4.0 advances and worldwide fiber expansion.
