The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) World Telecommunication/Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Indicators Database reveals that 56.727% of the people all over the world were using the internet in 2019, registering a surge of 7% from 2018. The increasing number of internet users is intensifying data traffic, owing to which the demand for higher bandwidth is soaring. The relentless need for higher bandwidth is creating an enormous requirement for optical networking and communication components.
Additionally, the advent of the internet of things (IoT) and machine to machine (M2M) technologies will also help the optical networking and communication market progress at a CAGR of 6.2% during the forecast period (2020–2030). According to P&S Intelligence, the market was valued at $16.9 billion in 2019, and it will generate $32.8 billion revenue by 2030. Largescale adoption of these technologies in connected devices and data-intensive applications requires a robust network capacity, which can be achieved through the deployment of optical networking and communication components.
Multimode and single-mode optical fibers, optical filters, optical amplifiers, optical aggregators, optical circulators, optical switches, optical splitters, and optical transceivers used in the commercial, cloud and data centers, cable/broadcasting, government, industrial, and telecommunication sectors have a data transfer rate of up to 40 gigabits per second (Gbps), 40 Gbps to 100 Gbps or greater than 100 Gbps. In the coming years, telecommunication firms will emerge as the largest user of such components due to the rising internet and smartphone penetration and increasing use of social media platforms.
Optical networking and communication components used in end-use industries are based on fiber channels, synchronous optical network (SONET), and width division multiplexing (WDM) technologies. In the upcoming years, there will be widespread adoption of WDM technology-based components to meet the consistent demand for high-speed data transfer. Further, the coarse wavelength division multiplexing (CWDM) technology can efficiently transport extensive volumes of data across enterprise or telecom networks. In addition to WDM technology, end users will also opt for fiber channels technology to meet their bandwidth needs.
In recent years, optical networking and communication component manufacturers, such as Fujitsu Limited, ADVA Optical Networking SE, Corning Incorporated, Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., ZTE Corporation, Nokia Corporation, FiberHome Telecommunication Technologies Co. Ltd., Infinera Corporation, Ciena Corporation, Viavi Solutions Inc., and Cisco Systems Inc., have been partnering with each other to augment the use of such components. For instance, in February 2020, Infinera Corporation collaborated with Lumentum Holdings Inc., a designer and manufacturer of photonics and optical products to introduce XR optics-based networking solutions for the customers.
Geographically, Asia-Pacific (APAC) dominated the optical networking and communication market in the recent past, due to the largescale adoption of wireless communication technology in India, Malaysia, the Philippines, and China, the presence of optical networking and communication solutions providing companies, and rapid advancements in the IoT field in the region. Additionally, the mounting investments being made in the development of communication network infrastructure will also fuel the adoption of electric fiber cables, optical fibers, and other optical network components in APAC countries.
Therefore, the consistent need for higher bandwidth and emergence of the IoT and M2M technologies are expected to accelerate the adoption rate of optical networking and communication components.
