The market for IPTV services in Germany will grow more strongly over the next five years than previously predicted, according to a study by consulting company Detecon International, which adds that Germany can expect to cross the 5mn-user threshold as early as 2013.

The prediction is based on current analyses of subscriber figures for the largest German and foreign IPTV providers, Detecon adds.  “It is foreseeable that the market volume for IPTV in Germany will follow the trend of countries such as France and Italy,” declares Thomas Grota, Managing Consultant at Detecon.  France is thought to have ended September 2008 on 5.64mn IPTV subscribers, according to the French telecoms regulator ARCEP, while Italy had around 699,000 IPTV subscribers at the end of last year, according to data from Informa Telecoms & Media.

Detecon goes on to say that the German market is not fundamentally different from other international markets, although the comparatively large amount of free TV programming and "relatively high" mandatory television and radio charges in the country can "give potential IPTV customers cause to hesitate".

One reason given for the predicted growth is that German IPTV providers have readjusted their business models by adding integrated and flexible products and emphasising more strongly the features of IPTV which set the service apart from traditional broadcasting and Web-to-peer or peer-to-peer TV programming, which is also Internet-based.

"So many users are convinced above all by the exclusive content, services such as video on demand, and technical features like time shift and HDTV," added Mr. Grota.  "HD capability in particular is possible only with IPTV, but not with Web TV."

There were around 557,000 IPTV subscribers in Germany at the end of 2008, according to data from Informa Telecoms & Media's Intelligence Centre service.