TIA: US broadband equipment market to shrink 36% over next 3 years

Despite the expectation of broadband stimulus funds from the federal government in the coming months, US spending on access equipment should fall 27% this year and keep declining for the next two years before springing back to growth, according to the Telecommunications Industry Association. TIA predicts, for the first time ever, a global telecom industry decline this year (a 3.1% drop followed by 1.2% growth next year) -- projected access equipment spending declines of 9.8% in 2010 and 3.2% in 2011, followed by 18.2% growth in 2012. All told, the domestic broadband equipment market will shrink by more than $3.2 billion (or 36%) over the next three years.