When it comes to cable CAPEX, North America bucked the global downward trend in 2012, notching a 7 percent increase in CMTS and edge QAM revenue in the fourth quarter of 2012 – up from third-quarter numbers. And, thirst for multiscreen services and other bandwidth-intensive applications will only bolster the forward market momentum, new research has revealed.

According to Infonetics, increasing amounts of demand for digital and IP-based services meant that the region saw 2012 growth in the deployment in edge QAMs, which are the things that move digital video, voice and data services from head-ends to homes and create channels from IP streams, and CMTS, which is the broadband router in the head-end.

However, globally for the full year 2012, CMTS and edge QAM revenue decreased 15 percent to $1.39 billion. The decline was due to fading ASPs and channel shipments, which conspired to push the market down for the third consecutive quarter in Q4. That revenue fell 1 percent sequentially to $284 million.

The good news is that for 2013, it’s expected that the upward momentum seen in North America will continue, as well as spill over to the global stage in the face of new cable initiatives that will drive broadband usage. Going forward, the firm expects CMTS and edge QAM revenue to grow more than 20 percent in 2013.

“Though 2012 was a down year for cable broadband, the stage is set for a strong 2013,” said Jeff Heynen, directing analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics (News - Alert) Research. “Cable operators worldwide have a number of bandwidth-hungry applications on tap that will drive CMTS and edge QAM channel growth throughout the year, including DOCSIS 3.0, multiscreen services via the deployment of new video gateways, and carrier Wi-Fi services.”

In terms of market share, Cisco (News - Alert) held onto its perennial No. 1 CMTS revenue market share position in the fourth quarter, though No. 2 ARRIS, the leader in channel shipments, managed to grow its share by 6 percentage points

In the edge QAM segment, Cisco edged out Harmonic (News - Alert) to claim the top spot for the first time ever in the fourth quarter. Even so, Harmonic closed out 2012 as the edge QAM leader.