Structured Cabling Market - Global Industry Size, Share, Trends, Opportunity, and Forecast, 2021-2031

The Global Structured Cabling Market is projected to expand from USD 16.73 billion in 2025 to USD 26.71 billion by 2031, achieving a compound annual growth rate of 8.11%. This market encompasses a standardized framework of cabling and connectivity products designed to unify voice, data, and video systems into a single cohesive network, functioning as the essential telecommunications backbone for commercial properties and campuses. Growth is primarily driven by the rising need for high-bandwidth connectivity and the ongoing enlargement of data centers to support cloud computing. Furthermore, the extensive uptake of the Internet of Things requires durable physical layers to manage higher device densities, establishing these core connectivity requirements as the foundation for the industry's enduring expansion.

However, the sector faces substantial obstacles related to elevated installation and upkeep expenses, which frequently discourage smaller businesses from modernizing their outdated systems. The logistical intricacies involved in upgrading infrastructure without interrupting daily activities further hinder widespread adoption. Highlighting the magnitude of recent infrastructure commitments, the Fiber Broadband Association reported that fiber broadband deployments in the United States hit a record 10.3 million homes passed in 2024. Although this figure emphasizes the speed of network advancement, the associated financial and physical strains continue to pose significant barriers to achieving universal market penetration.

Market Drivers

The proliferation of hyperscale and co-location data center infrastructure serves as a major catalyst for the global structured cabling market, significantly transforming requirements for the network physical layer. With rising data traffic, operators are actively building high-density facilities that demand vast quantities of fiber optic and Category 6A copper cabling to sustain leaf-spine architectures and high-speed interconnections. This momentum is highlighted by JLL's "U.S. Data Center Report - Midyear 2024" from August 2024, which noted that data center absorption in North America hit a record nearing 2.8 gigawatts in the first half of the year, marking a ninefold rise since 2020. This swift increase in capacity leads directly to heightened procurement of structured cabling to address heat dissipation needs and guarantee low-latency performance within complex server settings.

Concurrently, the worldwide deployment of 5G networks and upgrades to telecom backhaul are driving the need for significant fiber densification, pushing market boundaries past conventional enterprise environments. Telecommunications operators are investing substantially in structured cabling to link small cells and macro towers, thereby securing the high bandwidth essential for advanced mobile services.

As reported in the "Ericsson Mobility Report" from June 2024, 5G subscriptions grew by 160 million in the first quarter of 2024, reaching a global total of 1.7 billion. This fast-paced user expansion exerts tremendous strain on backhaul networks, forcing providers to increase fiber penetration to uphold service quality, a trend further evidenced by the Fiber Broadband Association’s December 2024 survey indicating that fiber infrastructure now reaches 56.5% of U.S. households.

Market Challenges

The global structured cabling industry faces a major hurdle due to high installation and maintenance costs, alongside the logistical difficulties of retrofitting existing infrastructure. This financial constraint effectively limits market growth by deterring small and medium-sized enterprises from updating their legacy systems to accommodate advanced technologies. When the capital outlay for physical cabling upgrades becomes too high, organizations frequently postpone essential network improvements, thereby stalling the widespread adoption of unified network solutions. The need for specialized labor and the risk of operational downtime during installation further aggravate these cost issues, making the return on investment appear less appealing to budget-conscious companies.

These economic pressures are reinforced by recent volatility in material costs, which directly affects project budgets and viability. Data from the Associated Builders and Contractors in 2025 indicates that copper wire and cable prices experienced a sharp rise, with July figures reflecting a 12.2% increase compared to the previous year. Such instability in the pricing of key raw materials leads to uncertainty in project estimation, prompting stakeholders to delay or reduce infrastructure investments. As a result, increasing input costs directly undermine the industry's growth potential, leaving the physical backbone needed for high-bandwidth connectivity financially inaccessible for a considerable portion of the market.

Market Trends

The merging of IT and operational technology (OT) networks within smart buildings is acting as a pivotal driver, fueling the need for unified structured cabling backbones that support a wide range of endpoints, from HVAC sensors to security systems. This integration has shifted from being optional to becoming a necessary condition for implementing advanced building management software, which depends on detailed, real-time data to enhance energy efficiency and occupant comfort. Highlighting this trend, Honeywell's "AI in Buildings study" from February 2025 reveals that 84% of commercial building decision-makers intend to boost their usage of artificial intelligence in the upcoming year to optimize operations, a strategy that inherently demands a strong, converged physical layer to convey data across formerly isolated building systems.

At the same time, the market is experiencing a decisive shift toward sustainable and halogen-free cabling materials, driven by rising regulatory demands and corporate pledges to achieve net-zero emissions. Manufacturers are actively reworking their supply chains to lower embodied carbon and remove hazardous substances, ensuring that physical infrastructure complies with the green building standards increasingly embraced by global businesses. This sector-wide transformation is producing tangible environmental results; for instance, CommScope's "2025 Sustainability Report" from June 2025 notes that the company realized a 44.1% decrease in market-based Scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions relative to its 2019 baseline, emphasizing the magnitude of operational adjustments being made to provide eco-friendly network solutions.

Key Players Profiled in the Structured Cabling Market

• CommScope Holding, Inc.
• Nexans SA
• Corning Incorporated
• Panduit Corp.
• Belden, Inc.
• Legrand SA
• Schneider Electric SE
• ABB Ltd.
• Siemon Company
• Furukawa Electric Co., Ltd.

Report Scope

In this report, the Global Structured Cabling Market has been segmented into the following categories:

Structured Cabling Market, by Product Type:

• Fiber Cable
• Copper Cable
• Fiber Components

Structured Cabling Market, by Application:

• LAN
• Data Center

Structured Cabling Market, by Wire Category:

• Category 5e
• Category 6
• Category 7
• Category 6A

Structured Cabling Market, by End User Industry:

• Telecommunication
• Government
• Commercial
• Others

Structured Cabling Market, by Region:

• North America
• Europe
• Asia-Pacific
• South America
• Middle East & Africa

Competitive Landscape

Company Profiles: Detailed analysis of the major companies present in the Global Structured Cabling Market.

Available Customization

The analyst offers customization according to your specific needs. The following customization options are available for the report:

• Detailed analysis and profiling of additional market players (up to five).

This product will be delivered within 1-3 business days.