The Broadband and IPTV Growth Report presented at the
Broadband World Forum in Paris, shows that broadband continued to show healthy
growth in the first half of 2011.
Prepared for the Broadband Forum by industry analysts
Point Topic, the figures reveal the broadband subscriber total at the end of
June 2011 is now standing at 557.8 million subscriber lines, up by over 29
million lines since the start of this year.
The second quarter outperformed the same period last
year, continuing the trend of stronger growth set in the first quarter’s
results announced in June. Due to growth in broadband, 51 million
customers now subscribe to IPTV services worldwide, with France in the lead as
top IPTV country.
Globally broadband continues to grow strongly and all
indications are that as an industry it has weathered the financial
uncertainties of the last two years very well. Increased competition, new
markets and market sectors being developed and the recognition of broadband as
a vital part of any household or business have all contributed to the continued
expansion of the industry,” said Robin Mersh, CEO of the Broadband Forum.
Broadband is delivered today over a variety of access
technologies; DSL, fiber, cable and others. The network makeup is
ever-changing to meet the speed and quality demands of the fast growing
customer base.
DSL continues to be the dominant access technology
worldwide and continues to grow strongly. DSL alone, as distinct from the
part copper plays in many hybrid deployments, was responsible for over 50
percent of the net broadband lines added in the twelve months to end June 2011.
Hybrid fiber/DSL access solutions are growing rapidly
reaching a 14.8 percent market share for FTTH and FTTx. This is still not
fast enough for market demand though, and service providers are pushing for
more PON product interoperability, to help drive out testing overhead and
stimulate more competitive pricing for fiber products- ultimately expediting
deployments and improving the business case for fiber access
solutions.
The success of G-PON technologies has taken a significant
step forward with the announcement that the Broadband Forum has launched the
market’s first ever G-PON certification program.
To help the industry expedite fiber network rollout, this
global G-PON ONU Certification program will pave the way for swift expansion of
superfast broadband and the development of new technologies.
The BBF.247 certification program is open to GPON ONU
products with Ethernet interfaces and is based on the Broadband Forum’s OD-247
test plan. It proves conformance to TR-156 using OMCI as defined in the
ITU G.998, which are the most critical standards to interoperable
implementations.
Asia, the leading broadband region, continues its
sustained growth both in subscriber numbers and in percentage terms. The Asian
markets have between them put on 55.5 percent of the total net additions in the
year to end June 2011, and 61percent of the net additions in the quarter.
China continues to dominate the world rankings for
broadband, accounting for over 45.7 percent of all subscriptions added in the
quarter and 39.9percent in the 12 months to June 2011. In terms of percentage
growth during the year, Brazil and Russia in fact outpaced the top 10
countries, with increases of over 20percent for the twelve months to June 2011.
India, currently at number 11, is likely to break into
the top 10 by the end of the year at the latest,” said Point Topic’s Oliver
Johnson.
Given the growth rates in India and Mexico currently and
the headroom they have left to expand they could well force their way into one
of the top spots soon,” Johnson added.
Nine percent of the
world’s broadband homes now subscribe to an IPTV service, an increase from
7.8percent in June last year. Europe is still the leading IPTV region
with strong growth in France, Romania, Russia and Belarus.
The competitive and
regulatory environment coupled with a relatively high broadband penetration
mean that all these markets show good prospects for future growth. Asia has
increased its market share by almost 5 percent in the last 12 months and shows
signs of accelerating in a number of markets. Asia is likely to overtake
Europe in 2012 in terms of IPTV subscribers.
France still leads
the IPTV market with 11.05M subscribers, representing over 50 percent of French
broadband lines. In contrast, China’s 10.5M subscribers are equivalent to
around 7.6 percent of lines in the market. Many IPTV subscribers are in
Hong Kong and Shanghai, so there is considerable room for expansion, as Hong
Kong on its own has one of the highest IPTV penetrations anywhere in the
world.
By Telecomlead.com Team
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