Ethernet Service Revenue Rockets to Nearly $6 Billion

Worldwide revenue from Ethernet services more than doubled to $5.9 billion between 2004 and 2005, and will increase to $22.5 billion by 2009, says a new report from Infonetics Research.

Infonetics says the Ethernet services market is growing quickly because it offers greater bandwidth without increasing WAN costs.

"Since Ethernet offers more bandwidth without increasing WAN costs, it's growing in popularity, especially among small and medium businesses, and among remote and branch offices of large businesses -- the very customers service providers are targeting for new revenue," Michael Howard, principal analyst at Infonetics Research, said in a statement.

The bulk of the revenue, 75%, comes from retail Ethernet services, such as Internet/WAN access, Ethernet private line, and transparent LAN services. The remaining 25% come from wholesale Ethernet service revenue, primarily point-to-point Gigabit Ethernet links. Wholesale revenues will grow slowly through 2009.

The Asia Pacific region accounted for the biggest chunk of revenue, with more than 40% of the total, followed by EMEA with over 30%, and North America, with over 20%.Revenue from mid-band Ethernet services, comprised of one to 10 megabit and 10 to 50 megabit speed bands, was almost $1.9 billion in 2005. They are forecast to grow to over $8 billion by 2009, and will make up 36% of total worldwide Ethernet services revenue.