Optical equipment market jumps 3 percent to $12.5B, says research firm

The optical market segment is looking up. After what could be described as a subdued third quarter, the global optical network equipment market totaled $12.5 billion, growing 3 percent year-over-year, says IHS.

Leading the charge during the quarter were Huawei and Alcatel-Lucent, which IHS said saw significant gains in "share compared to the third quarter of 2015.

During the fourth quarter, worldwide optical spending was $3.5 billion, up 17 percent sequentially, and up 10 percent from the same period a year ago. In particular, spending on WDM equipment in the fourth quarter totaled $3.1 billion, up 18 percent from the fourth quarter of 2014. From a regional perspective, North America saw a slight increase following a flat third quarter, with the overall region seeing 5 percent growth. However, IHS noted that EMEA has not yet come out of its era of slow optical spending, showing a rolling quarter decline of 3 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015. Release