Triple play services, comprising of voice, video and data look set to overtake broadband adoption in Europe, with a new study by Booz Allen Hamilton claiming that by 2010 more than half of European homes will have the option of digital television offering the technology.
Commenting on the findings, Thomas Kunster, Booz Allen Hamilton partner told this mornings
Times: “The long-term winners will be the players who are first to offer consumers the so-called ‘triple play’ access to all three services from a single source, on favourable terms and conditions.”
Currently, about 20% of EU homes have digital television, including 11% in Germany and 57% in Britain, compared to 24% having broadband internet, with 23% in Britain and 44% in the Netherlands.
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is forecast to enjoy a surge in popularity, accounting for 40% of fixed line traffic in Europe by the end of 2006, compared to 15% in 2005 and 1-2% in 2004.
According to Kunster, telecoms incumbents, such as France Telecom, could dominate the digital home market, as they were already more dominant than cable operators.
Estimates released at the beginning of the month from Point Topic reveal that the UK has overtaken France as the largest broadband country in Europe, with 9.8 million broadband lines by New Year’s Day 2006, compared to France with 9.7 million (see UK Overtakes France As Largest European Broadband Country).
The strong performance comes on the backend of a healthy third quarter for DSL uptake in 2005, with Point Topic revealing that during the first nine months of 2005 the UK added nearly 2.8 million broadband lines, while France added 2.2 million (see Global Broadband Lines Up By 9% In Q3 2005).
Meanwhile, research by International Data Corporation (IDC) shows that VoIP is beginning to attract more consumers, predicting 27 million users to have subscribed by 2009 (see VoIP Gaining In Popularity).
Related Links
