Market Trends

A research study by Informa Telecoms and Media forecasts that the pay TV market in the Middle East and North Africa will grow from 6.9 million subscribers at the end of 2008 to 11 million by end 2014. Although over 60% of these subscribers are based in Turkey and Israel, increasing growth levels in other countries in the region highlight that the sector is developing strongly.

The paradigm shift in defence doctrine that saw the transformation of European defence into an expeditionary force, has allowed satellite communication (SATCOM) to become the primary means of integrating platforms and forces under one umbrella. European MODs are vigorously acquiring SATCOM capability since it is increasingly recognised as a force multiplier in the new European defence posture. As a result, the European defence strategic communication market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8 per cent from 2009 to 2018, defying the economic downturn, according to Frost & Sullivan.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Screen Digest’s new report "Mobile Market Monitor: TV H2 2008" to their offering.

The Broadband Forum announced at CommunicAsia in Singapore the latest broadband and IPTV statistics, which show impressive growth in the face of the global economic downturn. Its report, prepared for the Forum by industry analysts Point Topic (GBS database at http://point-topic.com/home/gbs/), shows that broadband grew by 16.6 million lines globally in the last quarter alone, with more than three million being added across North America - while IPTV continues to expand strongly.

Ovum’s newly released mobile broadband forecasts show that users accessing the Internet via mobile broadband enabled laptops and handsets will generate revenues of US $137 billion globally in 2014, over 450% more than in 2008. However, operators will need to content themselves with the fact that user growth will be far faster than revenue growth, meaning more users and more data traffic but declining ARPUs.

by NSR

In the last two years, much has been made within the satellite industry of transponder shortages and higher capacity pricing impacting the Sub-Saharan African market. Evidence from NSR’s Global Assessment of Satellite Demand, 5th Edition study details the current capacity issues facing this regional market, and numerous operators have already responded. Some additional capacity on existing satellites has been relocated to the Sub-Saharan Africa market, and a number of recently launched satellites have already increased supply with more to come in the next several years.

Over 47 million homes now receive digital satellite signals

50 percent or 122 million out of the 243 million TV homes in Europe receive programs digitally at the end of  2008. Overall, satellite – including other operators – has again proven to be a main driver of digitalization, providing more than a quarter of all TV households or 52 percent of all digital households with digital TV signals. The digitalization rate of satellite, as an infrastructure, is three times higher (89 percent) than that of cable networks (27 percent). This were the finding of the annual Satellite Monitor report commission by SES ASTRA.

A report by reserach firm IDATE examines recent developments in broadband via satellite the United States, Asia and Europe, providing analysis of the issues involved in rolling out these services and assesses the opportunities tied to the deployment of fixed satellite access services in residential markets in Europe and North Africa.

Germany had a total of 37.67 million analog and digital TV homes by the end of 2008. With 16.2 million households, satellite reached 43% of all German households, while 18.45 million households or 49% watched television via cable in 2008. The terrestrial television DVB-T had 2.75 million share of seven percent, followed by IPTV with 270.000 households and a share of one percent. These were the results of the latest Satellite Monitor, conducted annually on behalf of SES ASTRA.The methodology and the results are controlled by independent institutes. 6,000 telephone and face-to-face interviews were conducted at the end of last year.

The Dell’Oro Group reported that the IPTV subscriber base grew by 3.2 million in the fourth quarter of 2008 to reach 23 million subscribers at the end of last year, nearly double the number at the end of 2007. While Europe, Middle East, and Africa remained the largest market for unit shipments of IPTV set-top boxes, North America drove the market’s revenue growth in the fourth quarter as AT&T and Verizon continued to aggressively promote their television services.