MUMBAI: IPTV will grow at a CAGR of 25 per cent and have in its net a subscriber base of 102 million in 2014, forecasts Multimedia Research Group.
IPTV service revenue is set to touch $46 billion by 2014 as operators make efforts to increase penetration and raise ARPUs (average revenue per user).
IPTV operators are using fiber in high-competition markets and advanced DSL such as channel bonding and VDSL2 in other less competitive markets. As a result, telcos have been discreetly improving their IPTV bandwidth capacity to sub-markets that need upgrades without overspending in markets that don’t require immediate upgrading.
The Eastern European IPTV market is moving quickly to early maturity, while ROW markets show faster gains than other regions. “As late as 2007, Eastern Europe had only a few IPTV trials or startups. Now, there are 16 fully operating IPTV operators and another 3-6 in trial," the study said.
The operators continue to grow their service base, because they have much greater technical and creative control over their service than their cable competition. By 2014, Europe will have 45 per cent of the global market, Asia 31 per cent, North America 19 per cent and the rest of the world about 5 per cent.
High Arpus still favour Europe and the US. Of the specific CapEx items tracked by the report, expenditures will grow from $3.1 billion in 2010 to $5.1 billion in 2014, while service revenue will grow from $17.5 billion to $46 billion in 2014.
Over 50 companies are profiled in the report, including many emerging markets in Eastern Europe and the rest of the world. Despite many obstacles and competition, 23 IPTV SPs (mostly in Asia and Europe) will have exceeded the million-subscriber mark by 2014. For many IPTV operators, set-top boxes make up over 70 per cent of CapEx expenditures.
Greater penetration of integrated hybrid, IPTV, and OTT STBs including connected TVs with STBs embedded in TV sets is expected.
In the North American markets, all eyes have recently turned to Verizon and AT&T, each adding about one million subscribers in 2009. Since Verizon stopped signing new franchise agreements outside its existing footprint, speculation is growing that Verizon will switch from its QAM/IPTV architecture to an all IPTV (fiber-based) architecture for future franchises after 2010.
Meanwhile AT&T, with no such technical constraints, is free to use a “discreet upgrade” approach to growing bandwidth by using a mix of advanced DSL or FTTX as needed.
