Adtran executives say more than 500 different fiber providers use the TA5000 platform, with Ohio carrier Horizon the latest adopter.
Ohio-based carrier Horizon selected Adtran to support its deployment of fiber to tens of thousands of new channels in its five states over the next few years, choosing its 10G technology and intelligent software-as-a-service platform for deployment. horizo n serves customers in Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois over a network that runs essentially from Chicago to Philadelphia. It chose Adtran's system because it allows the company to offer different types of fiber services using the same suite, as it can scale from enterprise services to residential.
Horizon's build is somewhat unique because it starts from a different place than most other carriers. That's because it came to prominence in the fiber game of "doing all the hard things" such as enterprise and carrier services and mobile backhaul, and is now doing residential deployments. By contrast, others typically start with residential construction.
Most vendors offering fiber-to-the-home solutions are deploying mostly single-office hosted PON networks with virtually no electronics on site," explains Horizon internally. We're actually combining three networks into one. That's really because we all run very B2B and carrier-centric fiber businesses, as well as residential-centric fiber-to-the-home businesses," said Adtran, whose TA5000 suite will enable it to achieve its goal of providing multiple resilient paths while supporting services such as Ethernet, residential and transportation.
The carrier aims to reach 11,000 passes and 30,000 greenfield passes within its ILEC footprint by 2022 and at least another 30,000 passes by 2023. In addition, it hopes to reach 100,000 passes per year.
Adtran's head of strategic solutions marketing said its TA5000 platform can support seven different fiber technologies, enabling operators to use it as a Swiss army knife for different business areas. The deal with Horizon is just the latest in a series of customer wins, noting that the company is seeing "absolutely unprecedented" momentum in the market. There are more TA5000 platforms in the U.S. than any other platform. There are more than 60,000 of them.
In terms of supply chain hurdles, lead times for chips and processors for its platforms are currently in the 50 to 60+ week range. That's not necessarily going to change anytime soon, so Adtran is working hard to work within those constraints and be honest and transparent with customers about the challenges it faces.
Adtran revenue grew 21 percent year-over-year to $154.5 million in the first quarter of 2022, with fiber access platform revenue up 61 percent year-over-year. However, it moved to a net loss of $1.1 million from a profit of $896,000 in the first quarter of 2021. It expects revenue in the second quarter to be between $165 million and $175 million.
The vendor announced a deal to merge with German peer ADVA in August 2021, and Adtran's shareholders approved the deal in January. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter of this year. The two are aiming to tackle a potential $13.7 billion market together, seeking to leverage capital to build fiber in the U.S. and abroad.
