Forecast for Fiber Optics: Strong Growth Through 2017

August 9, 2013—Market research firm ElectroniCast Consultants (Aptos, Calif., U.S.A) predicts strong growth in the global market for fiber optics through 2017. In the case of fiber optic collimator lens assemblies, the firm’s July report forecasts explosive growth of more than 50 percent per year through 2017, driven by optical communication applications. Such collimator lens assemblies are a key indicator of the fiber optic communication component market as they are used in converging laser beams from fiber or waveguides into modulators, attenuators, transmitters, pump modules and numerous other devices.
 
ElectroniCast also announced that their report on fiber optic connectors and mechanical splices values the global market for fiber optic connectors at $2.39 billion in 2012. The biggest portion of the market belonged to private data networks with $1.2 billion, or 51 percent of the market. The report also valued fiber connectors used in telecom applications at $669 million for 2012. The report predicts an average annual growth rate of 14.5 percent for fiber optic connectors in telecom, reaching $1.3 billion in 2017. The market is being driven by a trend toward smaller, multi-fiber connectors installed closer to end users.
 
In addition, the company predicts the market for fiber optic circulators will increase at an average annual rate of 8.4 percent through 2017, from a value of $228.5 million predicted in 2013 to $315.5 million in 2017. Fiber optic circulators are driven by increased demand for network upgrades in the metro-access space, as well as increased use in network test and monitoring applications. As terabit/sec data-rate systems approach, so does the need for components that enable dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM). Fiber optic circulators are a key enabler in DWDM systems, for their use with erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, fiber optic sensors, optical add/drop multiplexing and other advanced components.