Wi-Fi Still Dominates but G.hn and MoCA Trying to Carve Out a Place in the Home Network

As the device count per household grows and use of multimedia and smart home applications increases, so does the demand for reliable high-capacity home networks. While Wi-Fi dominates the home network market, demand for wired home networking devices supporting high throughput is on the rise. ABI Research, a market-foresight advisory firm providing strategic guidance on the most compelling transformative technologies expects that Multimedia over Coax Alliance (MoCA) 2.5 or G.hn specification network node shipments will reach 8 million units in 2019.

“Wi-Fi networks are highly penetrated in today’s broadband homes due to the convenience of wireless connectivity. Newer Wi-Fi standards and devices such as Wi-Fi mesh systems do improve the coverage and throughput of home networks, however, wired connectivity can improve the stability and throughput, especially while using bandwidth-intensive applications,” noted Khin Sandi Lynn, an industry analyst at ABI Research. G.hn standard can support home networking data rates up to 2 Gbps over coaxial, power lines, optical fiber or telephone wiring while the MoCA 2.5 standard can support up to 2.5 Gbps speed over coaxial cables.

There is growing interest from service providers in both technologies to deploy as an efficient backbone for residential Wi-Fi networks. Taiwanese service provider, Chunghwa Telecom recently announced the launch Gh.n adapters to its FTTx subscribers. Operators including China Telecom, China Unicom, and UK Liberty Global have also joined HomeGrid Forum in support of G.hn technology.

MoCA home networking adoption is mainly concentrated in North America, however, the Multimedia over Coax Alliance continues to eye growth in Europe and the Asia Pacific, particularly since 2017 with the introduction of MoCA Access 2.5 which added broadband access specifications based on MoCA 2.5. Companies including InCoax from Sweden, Teamly Digital from France, and ZTE have announced MoCA Access 2.5 solutions.

Wi-Fi is certainly the preferred home network connectivity, however, there is significant market potential for wired networking devices supporting high capacity or to complement Wi-Fi installations. The increasing use of live video streaming, gaming, and VR applications is likely to boost demand for 100% reliable coverage of home networks. Service providers can take advantage of advanced home networking devices and integrate with Wi-Fi offerings to optimize customer experience. ABI Research forecasts that advanced home networking node shipments will reach 39 million units in 2023.

These findings are from ABI Research’s ​Home Networking market data report. This report is part of the company’s ​Video and Cloud Services research service, which includes research, data, and Executive Foresights. Market Data spreadsheets are composed of deep data, market share analysis, and highly segmented, service-specific forecasts to provide detailed insight where opportunities lie.

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