Global IPTV Market Nears 24 Million

June 16, 2009 World Screen

LONDON: There are almost 24 million IPTV subscribers worldwide, The Broadband Forum revealed today, with almost 10-percent growth in the quarter, led by gains in Europe and North America.

The organization also reports that Western Europe is the world’s biggest broadband market, with some 108 million subscribers, reflecting a 10.8-percent growth on the year-ago period. Holding the second-place spot is South and East Asia, with 99 million broadband subscribers, a 26-percent gain on Q1 2008. Year-on-year growth in North America stood at 14.8 percent to reach 93.5 million subscribers. In the Asia Pacific, there are 64.4 million subscribers. Latin America lags behind at 28 million, but the region showed a strong year-on-year growth rate of 36 percent. Eastern Europe broadband subscribers grew 30 percent in the period to 23.6 million, while the Middle East and Africa had a 22.2 percent growth rate to reach 12.6 million subscribers.
 
The number of broadband lines worldwide now stands at 429.2 million, The biggest individual market is China with 88 million, followed by the U.S. with 84 million, Japan with 30.6 million, Germany with 24.1 million and France with 18 million. Rounding out the top ten were the U.K., South Korea, Italy, Brazil and Canada.
 
Western Europe has the most IPTV subscriptions, at 11.4 million, a 46-percent growth rate in the year. North American IPTV subscriptions almost doubled in the year, to just under 4.4 million, as did South and East Asia, to 4 million. Strong gains were also seen in Latin America (to a modest 23,467) and Eastern Europe (to 1.2 million).
 
“Growth is high in Eastern Europe because IPTV take up is still relatively low when compared to other regions such as North America and Asia Pacific,” said John Bonsell, a senior analyst with Point Topic, which prepared the data for The Broadband Forum. "This is good news for operators and subscribers, because there is plenty of potential for growth coupled with a wide range of IPTV services, so cost should remain low."
 
 “This report shows that despite the economic situation the world is facing, the demand for both broadband and IPTV continues at pace as people everywhere look to improve the quality and speed of their communications,” added George Dobrowski, the chairman and president of the Broadband Forum.

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