The global market for IP-based television services is expected to grow at a compound annual rate of 92.5% over the next five years, according to a recent report by market research analyst, iSuppli Corp.
Worldwide subscriber totals will grow from 3.9 million in 2006 to 103 million in 2011, the report says, as competition heats up in the market for bundled voice, internet, and video entertainment services. IPTV subscription revenue will grow more than 40-fold over the same period, iSuppli predicts, from $960.5 million to $39.1 billion.
“IPTV promises to add interactivity, personalization, integration of voice and data and value-added services to television entertainment,” explained iSuppli multimedia analyst, Frank Dickson. “Because of the wide variety of services offered by the technology, companies from various industries are being drawn into the IPTV/triple-play fight, sparking intensified competition among market participants.”
North American telephone carriers have rolled out an impressive selection of IPTV services over the past couple of years, using fiber optic broadband networks, which have rapidly expanded throughout the United States. This will ultimately put them on roughly even ground with incumbent cable companies, which are attempting to siphon voice customers away from the telecom sector by launching their own “digital phone” VoIP services.
