Global sales of handheld OTDRs and associated devices hit US$407 million in 2018

News and Business

Global sales of handheld Optical Time Domain Reflectometers (OTDR) – a fibre optic test instrument used as a troubleshooting device to find faults in optical links – reached US$407.33 million in 2018, up from US$397.8 million in 2017. OTDR system sales in the telecommunications sector alone totalled US$289.63 million, representing a 72.5 percent market share for the year. These are the headline conclusions of the latest annual forecast by ElectroniCast Consultants, a market and technology research consultancy addressing the fibre optic communications industry.

The new report also provides a 10-year forecast of the worldwide market for handheld OTDRs and multiple-test units (platforms) using OTDR modules, as well as supplementary and secondary OTDR-based modules. According to ElectroniCast, the cable TV sector is forecast to increase in number of units sold at a growth rate above 5% per year during the forecast period (2018-2028).

The analyst noted, “The consumption value of OTDRs in the private networks sector is forecast to achieve impressive double-digit annual growth over most of the next ten years, due to the increase in optical fibre deployment in local area networks; campus – meaning LAN extension inter-building, LAN-to-LAN and redundant lines; and large data centres, driven by critical high-speed data applications.”

Military and aerospace applications, as well as various speciality and other applications are also quantified in this report. ElectroniCast defines the use of handheld OTDRs in speciality applications as units testing the deployment of sensors that are not used in the other applications. Speciality applications also include the use of OTDRs in used in Industrial, Laboratory, rental units, other applications and non- specific/miscellaneous.

For more information, visit www.electronicastconsultants.com