The year 2012 will be a watershed year for the global
fixed telecom services. Worldwide household broadband revenues ($181 billion)
will overtake household voice revenues ($159 billion) for the first time,
according to Ovum.
The Asia-Pacific region achieved this several years ago,
but it will reach a new milestone in 2012 as home broadband revenues ($68
billion) will be more than twice as large as home voice revenues ($31 billion).
This is a reflection of the popularity of mobile voice and fixed broadband in
the Asian market.
In addition, the total number of Asia-Pacific consumer fixed
telephone lines will decline by 23 per cent between 2011 and 2016, falling from
299 million in 2011 to just 230 million in 2016. In contrast, the total number
of Asia-Pacific consumer fixed broadband lines will grow 45 percent over the
same period, from 250 million in 2011 to 362 million in 2016.
Our research reveals the extent to which the fixed voice
telecoms market is shrinking and just how important broadband has become to the
telecoms industry,” said Charlie Davies, analyst, Ovum.
Global FTTH/B broadband connections will total 226
million in 2016, growing at a CAGR of 22 percent over the forecast period. In
2016, Asia-Pacific will have the lion’s share of these connections, with approximately
180 million FTTH/B subscribers. China will account for 63 percent of the Asian
total. FTTH/B broadband connections will be the main driver of fixed broadband
growth in the Asia-Pacific region in coming years.
Next year, telcos will generate more consumer revenues
from fixed broadband than from telephone lines for the first time. This will be
driven by consumers continuing to shun their landline in favor of the mobile
phone and the greater need for fixed broadband in the home to meet the demands
of increasing video traffic, more applications and content in the cloud and
more connected devices. The rise of Internet-based voice services such as Skype
will also play a significant role.
However, broadband revenue growth alone will not be
sufficient to offset the decline in fixed voice revenues due to the investment
needed for next-generation access networks and software. This underlines the
need for telcos to find a role and further revenues from new service lines,”
Davies added.
According to the report, entertainment (TV, gaming and
music) represents a significant opportunity for telcos to drive revenue growth,
particularly in the form of on-demand content. The way that telcos approach
this vertical will evolve rapidly as they learn to exploit partnerships with
popular brands more effectively.
By Telecomlead.com Team
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