I think there are some parallels to metro fibre networks. You have devices/pluggables with xxxG throughput. MUX/DEMUXs, ROADMs and ILAs are expensive. High cost, high margin.

But you don't make the optics. You're buying them from the same supplier as your competitors and you can't buy that company because you'll kill the market because your competitors won't buy from you and all you'd be left with is an interop problem. The second problem is that the market is small. Few outfits build these networks and they are often monopolies in their geo. There is little growth.

Commoditization is not the only problem.