EMEA optical kit sales jump by a third

European sales of optical kit jumped by a third in the third quarter of 2004 as service providers boost network infrastructure investment to roll out higher bandwidth services, including broadband and 3G.

According to Dell'Oro Group, the lion's share of global optical sales growth came from "significant" revenue increases in EMEA.

In contrast the total global optical transport equipment market crept up seven per cent in the same period compared to 2003, according to the latest numbers from the research firm.

The leading vendors in EMEA were Alcatel, Siemens and Marconi with 28 per cent, 20 per cent, and 15 per cent respectively.

"Alcatel has a dominant market share in the growing EMEA region," said Jimmy Yu, senior analyst for optical transport research at Dell'Oro Group.

"However, since the optical market remains highly fragmented, with only Alcatel, Lucent and Nortel holding greater than 10 per cent market share worldwide, competition will increase as vendors shift focus from holding share, to growing share and scale.

"Since vendors typically hold the smallest share outside their home region, they will likely invest or partner to strengthen their position in those regions."