By Claus Hetting, WiFi NOW CEO & Chairman
Dell’Oro forecasts massive 77% CAGR for Wi-Fi 7 routers & CPEs
Yes, fixed broadband access and home networking equipment sales have been under pressure but now – finally – the future once again looks bright, in particular with respect to Wi-Fi 7-based products. The analysts from Dell’Oro now predict a CAGR of a whopping 77% for Wi-Fi 7-capable CPEs and residential routers for the period 2024-2028.
“In 2024, we are projecting 9.5M units to be sold. This will grow to 168M units by 2028. These units include all broadband gateways supporting Wi-Fi 7, including for cable, fibre, and FWA, as well as routers and mesh satellite units,” Lastly, keep in mind that China will be deploying a lot of Wi-Fi 7 as part of its Fiber-to-the-Room strategy. However, these units will not be full-Wi-Fi 7, as they will not support the 6GHz band,” says Jeff Heynen, VP Broadband Access and Home Networking at Dell’Oro Group.
“Revenue for Wi-Fi 7 residential routers and broadband CPE with WLAN will reach $8.4B by 2028, as the technology is rapidly adopted by consumers and service providers alike,” Dell’Oro Group says. The new forecasts are included in this 5-year forecast report released by Dell’Oro Group on July 30.
Meanwhile, Dell’Oro expects enterprise WLAN market contraction to slow in 4Q2024. “The digestion of previous WLAN shipments and the cautiousness of some enterprises due to macro-economic conditions has caused a dramatic drop in revenues in the past two quarters,” said Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group. “We expect to see signs of recovery in 4Q 2024 once excess inventory is flushed through the system, and the market returns to demand-driven dynamics,” says Siân Morgan, Research Director at Dell’Oro Group in this enterprise WLAN forecast report.
Extreme Networks teams up with Intel for AI-driven performance
Intel has added yet another partner to its Intel Connectivity Analytics (ICA) program, and this time it’s Extreme Networks. Extreme Networks will be accessing and applying connectivity data from Intel’s ICA program to “enhance native AI capabilities within its Extreme AI Expert™ solution,” Extreme Networks says in a press release here.
Intel’s ICA program already includes partners Cisco, Wyebot, Ambeent, and now also Extreme Networks. Extreme says data from Intel will deliver better visibility into both network and client devices leading to better designs, deployments, and management of enterprise Wi-Fi networks.
Plume IQ: Busiest day for smartphone data shifts from Sunday to Tuesday
Plume IQ – the data analytics service of home broadband & managed Wi-Fi platform provider Plume – continues to reveal new insights when it comes to understand home broadband usage. According to the latest Plume IQ news report, during the summer period the most smartphone data is transmitted on Tuesdays as opposed to during on Sundays for the January to May period.
Smartphones still account for 15% of the total data transmitted regardless of time of year, Plume IQ says. For laptops and computers the biggest day for transmission data shifts from Saturdays during winter to Tuesdays during the summer period. Plume IQ offers no particular reason why this would be the case but it appears to be consistent in the US.
/Claus.