Arris is leading the Q1 2014 STB market, ahead of Cisco.

Set-top box (STB) revenue decreased 3 percent sequentially to $4.8 billion in Q1 2014.

Cable STBs grew 5 percent in unit and revenue growth.

Infonetics Research said Arris benefitted from the high-definition (HD) cable STB refresh cycle underway at North American cable operators. The report did not reveal market share of Arris and Cisco.

North America today commands the largest portion of STB revenue, but Asia Pacific is projected to close to within 3 percentage points by 2018, driven by a penetration of advanced services such as HD and OTT, which will set in motion an upgrade cycle.

The report said North American cable operators stepped up spending again as they transitioned higher-end multiplay subscribers to headed and headless video gateways and replaced aging, power-hungry standard-definition boxes with more efficient high-definition boxes.

Infonetics forecasts the OTT media server segment to grow from 6 percent of global STB revenue in Q1 to 14 percent by 2018

Jeff Heynen, principal analyst for broadband access and pay TV at Infonetics Research, said: “A boost in overall STB unit shipments this year will come from an increase in over-the-top (OTT) media servers as service providers in China and other emerging markets use these devices to deliver live streaming TV.”