Dell'Oro Group reports a 40% surge in cable access network spending in Q1 2026, driven by distributed access architecture (DAA) and PON upgrades. This investment reflects a renewed focus from cable operators like Comcast and Charter on upgrading their networks to DOCSIS 4.0, impacting key suppliers such as Harmonic, Vistance Networks/Aurora Networks, and Vecima Networks.
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Add as preferred sourceThe investment rebound signals that the long-awaited DOCSIS 4.0 transition has finally moved from lab certification to large-scale deployment. With Broadcom’s unified silicon now available, operators can retrofit existing nodes with RF trays that support either Full Duplex (FDX) or Extended Spectrum (ESD) paths. This flexibility allows cable giants to compete with fiber and fixed wireless access (FWA) providers without the cost of total overbuilds. For the broader ecosystem, the shift toward virtualized termination systems (vCMTS) and software-defined networking provides a more agile architecture for delivering symmetrical multi-gigabit services. Watch for Charter to potentially expand its 1.8GHz upgrade footprint beyond its current 35% target as competition for multi-gigabit subscribers intensifies.
Dell'Oro Group's Q1 2026 Broadband Access and Home Networking quarterly report places the cable DAA spending surge within a broader market recovery. Jeff Heynen, Dell'Oro's vice president for broadband access and home networking, noted that operators had paused DAA purchases throughout 2025 while waiting for platforms incorporating Broadcom's unified DOCSIS 4.0 chipset, and that the availability of those platforms has pushed US cable operators into a phase of relatively high capital intensity.
The supplier landscape for cable access networks is consolidating around a small number of vendors positioned to capture this upgrade cycle. Dell'Oro estimates that Harmonic represented 48% of cable access network revenues in Q1 2026, followed by Vistance/Aurora at 31% and Vecima at 14%, giving the top three suppliers roughly 93% combined market share. Remote optical line terminal revenues, which cable operators use to deploy PON off the node for edge-out builds and rural deployments, surged 71% year over year, while virtual CMTS revenues climbed 28% year over year, indicating that the upgrade wave extends beyond RF plant retrofits into the virtualized core.
On the operator side, the deployment strategies vary in scope and pace. Comcast has deployed DOCSIS 4.0 to millions of homes, while Charter plans to cover about 35% of its HFC footprint and expects to accelerate D4.0 deployments in the Cox Communications footprint after the merger closes. Heynen indicated he would not be surprised to see Charter eventually increase the percentage of legacy footprint upgraded to DOCSIS 4.0, and he expects other operators currently enhancing DOCSIS 3.1 networks to commit partially to D4.0 in areas facing the most competition from fiber, fixed wireless, and satellite broadband providers.
