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IPTV becomes a reality as worldwide subscribers reach 3.6
million
- Western Europe leads, with growth expected in emerging markets
in 2007
Reading, UK - Monday, 5 February 2007
For immediate release
- IPTV subscribers hit 3.6 million in 2006, generating almost €1
billion in annualised revenues
- Western Europe accounts for two-thirds of worldwide IPTV
subscribers
- The top five IPTV providers by subscriber base account for
just over 60% of the market
- 2007 will see accelerated growth in Asia and North America
Highlights from the Canalys
research
The latest worldwide IPTV research from Canalys shows how the
number of commercial IPTV launches escalated in 2006, and suggests
that IPTV services are now moving into the mainstream. Most major
incumbent telecoms providers have launched commercial services and
the market is becoming increasingly competitive with the entry of
alternative operators, such as ISPs and energy companies.
“2007 will see the competitive landscape become even fiercer as
IPTV services from established service providers will be challenged
by aggressively priced alternatives from Web TV, cable, satellite
and content companies. These are all contenders for a share of the
limited wallet of most consumers,” said Canalys senior analyst Nadia
Griffiths.
Canalys estimates that the total number of IPTV subscribers
worldwide reached 3.6 million by the end of 2006, with Western
Europe leading the way and accounting for 2.4 million of those. The
sheer number of operators in the region provides its IPTV scale, and
major investments in backbone infrastructure are being made as
providers rush to build substantial subscriber bases. The IPTV
market is highly fragmented. The top five providers account for over
60% of all subscribers, but the rush of service launches by new
entrants in 2006 means that there are numerous companies with only a
few thousand subscribers each. The top three providers globally
according to Canalys are PCCW on 18.2% share, France Telecom with
16.8% and Free Telecom on 14.0%. These are joined in the top five by
Telefonica and Fastweb.
One of the major threats for many IPTV service providers is the
quality of networking once IPTV services become fully fledged. “IPTV
networks will quickly become the most complex and bandwidth
intensive that have ever existed,” said Alessandra Fitzpatrick,
Canalys vice president. “Many service providers have invested
millions of euros on network upgrades, but it remains unproven
whether IPTV networks can scale into the millions without
performance degrading and response times slowing, or even collapsing
altogether. Another infrastructure challenge is that service
providers will quickly have to learn how to manage multiple billing
systems and content across large server farms and SANs, while
maintaining the highest quality of service.”
The future, however, looks promising. In 2007, Canalys predicts
significant uptake of IPTV in the Asia Pacific region. Hong Kong is
already a mature IPTV market, and growth will come from emerging
markets such as China and India, following large investments into
IPTV deployments there. Australia is also finally moving into the
commercial phase of its IPTV offerings, which will lead to fast
roll-outs of services in 2007. North America will be another major
growth area, with AT&T and Verizon already pushing nationwide
roll-outs of IPTV services. Western Europe though will continue to
lead and set the pace globally for the IPTV industry in the year
ahead.
About the IPTV Analysis Worldwide service
The market estimates in this release come from the Canalys IPTV
Analysis Worldwide continuous advisory service. Through regular
reports, database releases and direct analyst contact, Canalys sizes
the IPTV market and examines and advises on the issues facing
service providers, hardware vendors, software, content and services
companies active in the IPTV sector. It looks at the key market
trends globally, service provider business models, opportunities for
hardware and software vendors, and end-user behaviour. More
information...
Analyst photos
Photographs of the analyst(s) quoted in this
release are available in the biography section.
About Canalys
Canalys specialises in delivering high quality market data,
analysis and advice to the world's leading technology providers. It
is recognised as a key supplier of continuous advisory services and
confidential custom projects for marketing managers and strategists
within blue-chip IT, telecoms and consumer electronics companies. It
has unrivalled expertise in European routes to market for all kinds
of high technology products and services, and provides worldwide
market data and trends analysis.
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