IPTV Subscriber Numbers Continue To Grow

MRG says that driving the market’s successful growth in the past 6 months is fast growth in Europe, especially France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Eastern Europe; in Asia, especially China, Japan, and Hong Kong; and in North America, especially Verizon, the IOCs (Independent Operating Companies) and Canada.

Len Feldman, director of IPTV analysis for MRG, said: “Our forecast shows service provider revenue growing from $3.6 billion in 2007 to $20.3 billion in 2011.

“Europe continues to be the biggest market for IPTV, with France easily leading the growth spurt through IPTV operators Free, Orange France Telecom and Neuf Cegetel.”

Gary Schultz, MRG president, said: “Success is also driven by seasoned operators who have mastered critical competitive operations like continuous quality improvement and content negotiations.

“By mastering these challenges, the experienced operators are successfully differentiating themselves and moving into sustained growth periods.”

According to the report, the underachieving operators continue to be those, like AT&T and Deutsche Telecom, who rely on Microsoft’s beleaguered middleware that has been ‘architecturally challenged’ with its inability to scale.

The report conjectures that further delays at AT&T will result in replacement of the MS middleware by mid-to-late 2007. However, the lack of MPEG-4/AVC set-top box chips, which was causing a drag on the market in late 2006, has been resolved, and should result in a continued uptake through 2007, says MRG.

A recent report from Screen Digest forecast that subscriptions to IPTV services across Europe will almost double, from 2.9 million in 2006 to 5.6 million in 2007 (see European IPTV Market To Double).

Meanwhile, Strategy Analytics predict that the number of IPTV households is forecast to grow from 5.8 million homes globally in 2006 to over 80 million in 2011 (see IPTV Households To Grow To Over 80 Million).