Driven by various relevant policies, large-scale fiber-optic cable replacement has been gradually launched. With the substantial advancement of FTTx, ODN products, as an important part of the FTTx system, will also usher in a good opportunity for development.
According to statistics, the investment proportion of ODN access equipment accounts for 50% to 60% of the investment in FTTx equipment. It can be predicted that the market scale of ODN access equipment in my country will maintain a growth trend of more than 20% in the next few years, and its market scale is expected to reach 14.55 billion yuan by 2012. ODN access equipment is usually composed of optical splitters, optical connectors and equipment (boxes, terminal boxes, etc.) for installing these devices. The core technology of ODN is mainly reflected in passive optical device products such as optical splitters and optical connectors.
The splitter market is booming
PLC (planar light waveguide technology) optical splitter is mainly used in FTTH user access network. In 2009, the global demand for PLC optical splitter was about 33 million channels, with an annual growth rate of 32%. The global market presents different patterns in different regions. After several years of rapid growth in demand, Japan and South Korea have now slowed down and their demand is relatively stable, accounting for about half of the market share. The United States has been hit by the financial crisis and its development momentum has been affected to a certain extent. However, FTTx in developing countries such as China, India and Brazil is in a rapid construction stage, thus becoming the main growth point of the market.
         With the continuous advancement of FTTx in my country, planar optical waveguide technology has become a hot spot for the development of the optical communication industry. The PLC market is booming, and some passive optical device manufacturers are very optimistic about it and are preparing to launch PLC projects. At present, the main PLC manufacturers include Accelink Technology, Broadcom Technology, and Fuchuang Technology.
         Driven by China Telecom and China Unicom's large-scale PLC product bidding, the domestic PLC market is booming and order revenue is growing strongly. During the "12th Five-Year Plan" period, operators will accelerate the deployment of FTTx networks, which will effectively promote the market demand for domestic passive components. As the core component of FTTx, PLC products will be widely used and their share in the global market is expected to further increase.
The core of PLC optical splitter is chip, and its design and manufacturing are particularly critical. In recent years, some optical device companies in my country have successfully packaged PLC chips, and most foreign companies have also transferred chips to my country for packaging. These situations have created favorable conditions for the development of PLC optical splitter industry.
        Connectors have great potential
         In 2008, the global demand for optical connectors was 1.01 billion, an increase of about 11% over the previous year, and reached 1.04 billion in 2009. Affected by the growth of market demand in downstream application fields such as communications and optical networks, it is expected to reach 1.63 billion by 2012.
From the perspective of the global optical connector consumer market, the Americas market is currently the largest. The Asia-Pacific market has the greatest potential for future development. With the development of optical fiber and cable technology, optical fiber is getting closer and closer to end users, and people's demand for shorter links, including board-to-board interconnection, is increasing, which has greatly increased the use of connectors.
         The policy adopted by the state in 2010 to revitalize and integrate the optical communication industry will expand the scale of the domestic optical fiber connector market and promote the development of the domestic optical fiber connector industry. The factors such as the reorganization of the domestic telecommunications industry and the issuance of 3G licenses have promoted the construction of optical communication networks, and the resulting new market demands, including optical fiber replacing copper and "FTTx", are huge market opportunities for optical fiber connectors.
        According to data from the Information Center of the China Electronic Components Industry Association, the domestic market demand for optical fiber connectors reached 280 million in 2009, and the domestic market demand for optical fiber connectors will increase by about 12.6% from 2010 to 2015, and the demand will reach 410 million by 2012. Therefore, with the start of large-scale construction of optical fiber broadband networks, the three major telecom operators are expected to orderly expand the construction of optical networks into buildings and homes, and the market size of optical fiber connectors will continue to grow.