Motorola Losing Cable Modem, Set-Top Box Marketshare

According to new research from Trefis analysts, Motorola, which had been winning in the cable broadband modem market, could be usurped by such heavy-hitters as Cisco, Arris, Ambit and Thomson.

Motorola owned 40 percent of the cable modem market in 2005, but it slid to just 30 percent last year and could fall even farther. However, cable modem sales make up only 1 percent of Motorola’s stock value, compared with its digital set-top boxes, which account for 13 percent of its stock price.

Cisco’s digital TV box business constitutes only about 6 percent of the $23 Trefis price estimate for Cisco’s stock. On the other hand, Cisco reportedly has increased its presence in the digital TV boxes market, overtaking Motorola. Trefis believes a strong position in digital TV boxes will better position Cisco to negotiate with cable operators to provide both digital TV boxes and cable modems.

Trefis also noted that Time Warner Cable and Comcast have increased their broadband business offerings through Arris, which has upgraded its modems to DOCSIS 3.0 technology that supports higher broadband speeds as fast as 100 Mbps.