MRG projects 89.6mn IPTV subs worldwide by 2012

November 18, 2008 - The global IPTV subscriber base will increase from 20.4mn in 2008 to 89.6mn in 2012, according to new research by Multimedia Research Group (MRG), which finds that telcos globally "did enough belt-tightening" in 2000-03 to lessen their exposure to financial volatility in the current economic climate.

Operators worldwide are expected to continue investing in improved Quality of Service (QoS), ease-of-operation, high-definition content, exclusive programming and time-shifting. “Operators continue to add impressive new services and improved QoS (Quality of Service) in competitive markets, especially in Europe and North America," said Jose Alvear, IPTV Analyst at MRG.

Europe is described as seeing continued steady IPTV subscriber growth, while more high-definition channels are being offered to Western and Eastern European subscribers. By 2012, the European subscriber base is projected to still be ahead of Asia, with Europe maintaining 41.5% of the worldwide subscriber base and Asia accounting for 35.8%. The research firm states that many European operators have increased subscribers by offering differentiating services, exclusive content and interactive features, as have Asian operators, despite flat growth in Japan, with rapid growth expected in China, Taiwan and Korea.

By comparison, North America is expected to only have around 17% of the total worldwide IPTV subscribers by 2012, but will dominate the global market in terms of gross service revenue at around US$ 13bn, due to higher ARPU. Verizon and AT&T are expected to jointly account for around 3mn subscribers by the end of 2008, and are predicted to continue their rapid growth into 2012, while smaller US and Canadian operators are following similar strategies.