Fiber Optic Test Equipment Market

Market Overview

The global fiber optic test equipment market size was valued at USD 955.90 million in 2022. It is projected to reach USD 1,802.23 million by 2031, growing at a CAGR of 7.30% during the forecast period (2023-2031).

Fiber Optic Test Equipments (FOTE) are used for cleaning and inspection procedures. They also aid in troubleshooting and consist of verification, certification, and advanced optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR) testers. These tests are used in many industries, including telecommunications, defense, military, and oil and gas. Transferring data is crucial for business operations. It helps with the creation, preparation, and execution of corporate plans. The relevance of testing equipment for these has grown in production, inspection, and on-field troubleshooting of network systems and R&D phases across industries. The telecommunication industry quickly adopts fiber optic cables to achieve high-speed data transfer. Signal loss is inevitable when a signal is sent over optical fibers.

Highlights

• The optical time domain reflectometer segment is the major contributor to the market by equipment type.
• The telecommunication segment is the major contributor to the market by end-user application. 
• Asia-Pacific is the most significant revenue contributor by region.

Market Dynamics

Global Fiber Optic Test Equipment Market Drivers:

Rising 5G/LTE Network Adoption and Fixed Broadband Subscription

Broadband expansion, ultra-low latency, and quicker connectivity are transforming industries, advancing civilizations, and vastly enhancing daily life. Previously, e-health, networked automobiles, traffic systems, and enhanced mobile cloud gaming were viewed as futuristic technologies. The 5G infrastructure market is expected to alter the world of various internet services by enabling connectivity across several end-user verticals. The GSMA claims that early deployment testing of 5G networks had a 45 percent urban coverage rate. By 2020, China, India, and other nations rolled out 5G networks, which required substantial financial investments in 5G-ready infrastructure.

Most 5G networks are expected to consist of small cells. Additionally, by eliminating pricey rooftop systems and installation costs, they assist carriers in saving money. They are also anticipated to enhance mobile device performance and battery life. High-quality and quantity fiber optic cables are necessary to construct 5G base stations. For instance, a rise in demand for fiber optic cables has been prompted by the development of UDN or ultra-dense networks. For the 5G transition, more than twice as many fiber optic cables are needed as there were for the 4G network. Numerous fiber optic links will be required as a result of other changes.

Global Fiber Optic Test Equipment Market Restraint:

High Attached Charges

Due to the labor-intensive nature of the fiber optics testing industry, keeping a lean staff is becoming increasingly problematic. The labor expense is about half the installation expense, and almost half as much is repetitive work. Businesses in the communication sector are actively working to resume production. Nevertheless, producing optical communications equipment still heavily relies on logistics and transportation. There has been a significant decrease in logistics and shipment capacity due to numerous interprovincial and intercity highways closed and international flights canceled. Installing fiber optics is, therefore, very expensive in the current environment.

Global Fiber Optic Test Equipment Market Opportunities:

Growing Adoption of Fiber Optic Networks for Communication, Security, and Management of Power and Utilities

Connecting multiple computers in a single building in computer networking nearby structures becomes faster with fiber optic cables. The swift transfer of huge files and other types of data between networks is facilitated by this connection. The use of fiber optic cables is primarily restricted to microscopy, biomedical research, and medicine. In non-invasive surgery, as in endoscopy, optical transmission is crucial. In this process, a tiny bright light is used to illuminate the surgical site inside the body, which reduces the number and size of incisions. Additionally, fiber optic cable is used as a surgical laser, a light guide, and an imaging tool.

Telecommunication is the primary end-use business for fiber optics since optical fiber cable is the primary method of transferring data between locations. The sector is rapidly growing due to the rising use of mobile devices and the corresponding bandwidth connectivity. Positive market developments in extensive data management and broadband services drive the telecoms industry. The number of linked devices is increasing as usage and connectivity of devices increase.

Regional Analysis

Asia-Pacific Dominates the Global Market

The global fiber optic test equipment industry is divided into four regions: North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, and LAMEA. 

Asia-Pacific is the most significant revenue contributor and is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 7.60% during the forecast period. China's technical outreach includes the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a massive worldwide infrastructure project that intends to realign the world economy toward Beijing by having more than 60 nations. Digital Silk Road is considered BRI's most crucial component (DSR). Furthermore, the 14th Five Year Plan (FYP), China's primary economic blueprint for 2021 to 2025, strongly emphasizes the creation of new infrastructure. The plan calls for China to expedite the construction of new infrastructure in the years preceding 2025, spanning various industries, from gigabit fiber optics to space-based infrastructure, which will boost the growth of the given market due to the necessity of maintaining fiber optics deployed throughout the country.

North America is expected to exhibit a CAGR of 6.30% during the forecast period. The United States has significantly influenced the market for fiber optic test equipment. The industry under study has significant investments in both the residential and commercial sectors. Innovations for various end-user applications, including data centers, industrial, telecommunications, and aerospace, were seen on the market under study in the United States. The new line of handheld equipment from OptoTest is perfect for use in data centers, enterprise LANs, telecommunications, aerospace, defense, and industrial networks, among other applications. Among the new product lines are the OP310 Optical Power Meter, OP350 Optical Light Source, OP360 Bidirectional Insertion and Return Loss Tester, and the OP380 Insertion Loss Tester.

In Germany, the expansion of the fiber optic cable test equipment market is primarily due to rising infrastructure development investments and the country's expanding FTTH usage. In 2019, there were 574 firms in the German telecommunications services sector, according to Statistisches Bundesamt and Bitkom. The future of the fiber optic testing market is anticipated to have a lot of potential due to the many telecom sector participants. The steadily rising number of houses positively impacts the demand for fiber optic test equipment in Germany with active connections to the optical fiber cable network (FTTH/B).

The Middle East and African region's most developed markets include the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The nation's telecommunications industry has significantly transitioned in the last ten years. The global bank estimates that by 2020, 100% of the population will be online. The UAE government has made numerous attempts to lessen its reliance on oil, and as a result, the nation's industrial sector has also expanded tremendously. The country was placed 30th out of 152 nations in the Competitive Industrial Performance Index (CIP) report from the United Nations Industrial Organization (UNIDO). More opportunities are anticipated for the market under study due to the increased use of digital technology across the industrial sector, where businesses are expanding their investments in technologies like cloud, AI, and IoT.

Segmental Analysis

The global fiber optic test equipment industry is segmented by equipment type and end-use application.

Based on equipment type, the global fiber optic test equipment market is bifurcated into optical light sources, optical time domain reflectometers, optical spectrum analyzers, optical power and loss meters, remote fiber test systems, and other equipment types.

The optical time domain reflectometer segment is the major contributor to the market and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 7.20% during the forecast period. An optoelectronic tool used to assess an optical fiber's characteristics is called an optical time-domain reflectometer (OTDR). The optical version of an electrical time-domain reflectometer is an OTDR. It injects a series of optical pulses in the tested fiber and collects light reflected or scattered from places along the thread from the same end of the fiber. The main applications of optical time domain reflectometer testing parameters are installing and servicing optical fiber access networks, such as communications links between telephone exchanges and telephone poles, and user networks, such as communications links between user sites and telephone poles. Following the advent of 5G networks, there has been a rise in demand for high sensitivity, high gain, and low noise in APDs used in OTDRs to swiftly identify problems in optical fibers.

Typical light sources in fiber optics include light-emitting diodes (LEDs), edge-emitting semiconductor laser diodes, and vertical-cavity surface-emitting lasers (VCSELs). Optical light sources all meet single-mode or multimode, polarized or nonpolarized, broadband or narrowband, tunable, ITU-wavelength-centered, and other testing requirements. Optical communication is the long-distance propagation of light signals through the transmission of photon energy over a low-loss waveguide. The photon energy source in telecommunications systems could be a semiconductor laser diode or light-emitting diode that emits light energy at a single wavelength. Streams of ones and zeros can be transmitted to create a digital communications channel by swiftly turning on and off the light source.

A tool for assessing an optical signal's strength is an optical power meter (OPM). A typical optical power meter consists of a calibrated sensor, measurement amplifier, and display. A photodiode selected for the proper wavelengths and power levels makes up most of the sensor. The display gadget shows the set wavelength and the measured optical power. It is examined how the expanding strategic advances, such as product innovations and collaborations, affect the market growth rate. The National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST) created a new way to measure laser power in March 2020 by observing the radiation pressure a laser beam exerts on a reflective surface.

An optical spectrum analyzer (OSA) is made to measure and show the power distribution of an optical source over a given range of wavelengths. Power is displayed vertically on a visual analyzer spectrum trace, and wavelength is shown horizontally. Due to the growing range of optics-related applications, numerous industries and organizations now require superior optical spectral measurements for R&D and manufacturing. These sectors include gas/chemical analysis, consumer electronics, healthcare, life science/medical research, security, sensing, and environmental monitoring. Significant product advancements are anticipated to accelerate market expansion significantly.

Based on end-use applications, the global fiber optic test equipment market is bifurcated into telecommunications, data centers, industries, and other end-user applications.

The telecommunication segment is the major contributor to the market and is estimated to exhibit a CAGR of 7.80% during the forecast period. The market is expanding favorably due to rising urban cities' demand for connection and internet access. Solid and effective fiber optic test equipment is eventually needed to meet the growing demand for faster internet speeds and excellent connectivity. Optical technology can answer this need, which helps the industry flourish. Additionally, optical test equipment is being chosen to support the bandwidth levels catering to advanced technologies like 5G, Big Data, and IoT that heavily rely on real-time data collection and transfer due to their security, scalability, and unlimited bandwidth potential to handle the enormous amount of backhaul traffic being generated. 

As data aggregation and management become increasingly important in business, the demand for data centers is anticipated to drive the development of fiber optic test equipment. A famous architecture that enables high-density, layer-one communication between two geographically separated facilities is DCI (Data Center Interconnect). In the past, enterprise network operators have leased these services from several providers, paying a regular monthly fee based on the size and number of circuits. Despite the benefits of leased circuits, network operators of all sizes frequently choose to establish their DCI networks. Operators are launching their own optical DCI network for various reasons, including cost savings, increased bandwidth flexibility, security, and operational control.

The industries section includes manufacturing, oil and gas, aerospace and defense, and energy and power. Imaging in difficult-to-reach places, such as wiring where electromagnetic interference is a problem, wiring in automobiles and industrial settings, and sensory devices to measure temperature, pressure, and other relevant parameters, are some of the applications of fiber optic test equipment in manufacturing. In the automotive industry, fiber optics is an excellent option for communications (in-vehicle networks), sensing requirements (sensors), and interior illumination systems. Over the projection period, the deployment and demand for fiber optic cables and testing equipment are anticipated to be driven by rising automotive production and trends, such as electric and autonomous vehicles.

Recent Developments

• March 2022- The RXT-6402, a third-generation sophisticated multi-service 400G test set, was unveiled by VeEX Inc. Based on the most recent iteration of adaptable, cutting-edge FPGA technology, the new RXT-6402 module and RXT-1202 high-power chassis offer native PAM4 and NRZ optical modules.
• March 2022- Fiber Complete PRO, a fiber test solution with a range of capabilities that replaces six test instruments, has been introduced, according to an announcement from Viavi Solutions Inc. It is the only single test port solution to completely automate every fiber qualification test necessary for setting up and certifying any fiber-optic network. Additionally, Fiber Complete PRO dramatically cuts down on the time and work needed for practically every step of the testing and certification process, including test setup, data interchange, results analysis, and onboard report preparation.