Huawei Technologies remains the world’s biggest supplier of optical networking gear, coming in well ahead of Alcatel-Lucent for the third quarter in row, according to Ovum figures.
Helped by strong sales in their home market in China, Huawei and ZTE were the only vendors to grow sales in Q3.
Although Asia-Pacific spending grew by a third over 3Q 2008, total sales of $3.6 billion were down 4% sequentially and 10% compared with last year.
“Several vendors are benefiting from China’s ON spending spree, which is being propelled by 3G mobile builds, but none more than Huawei,” said Dana Cooperson, Ovum’s vice president optical networking. “On strength that extends far beyond its home market, Huawei has taken the top spot over long-time leader Alcatel-Lucent in the $15.2 billion market.”
The Q3 results from all major vendors except Nortel showed that Huawei’s global sales had headed the long-time leader Alcatel-Lucent by more than $100 million for each of the first three quarters this year. The Chinese vendor now leads by almost three percentage points, Ovum said.
Of the top ten vendors, only Huawei and ZTE increased sales year-on-year, although Cisco, Fujitsu, NEC and Tellabs showed sequential growth in the quarter.
ZTE appeared to have edged out Fujitsu for the number four slot, while Nokia Siemens, which a year ago was the number five vendor, looks to have fallen to ninth position, Cooperson said.
Regional results were mixed. “The bleeding in North America appears to have stopped; Asia-Pacific, led by China, continues to exceed expectations; and EMEA and SCA remain moribund,” Cooperson said.