A light regulatory hand is among factors causing the U.S. to lag behind China and other countries in percentage uptake of broadband, Point Topic said. As Aug. 31, China had overtaken the U.S. as leading broadband nation, it said. Both countries had around 78 million broadband lines, but China’s are growing twice as fast, it said. Q3 likely saw the U.S. improve somewhat, and China’s growth may slow, but “China is almost certainly going to come out ahead when all the figures are in,” said Point Topic CEO Oliver Johnson. The U.S. also has fallen behind leading European and Asian countries in percentage uptake, he said. As on Wall Street, light regulation figures in broadband, having let incumbents monopolize a market, raising prices and slowing growth, he said. In countries with more open competition, broadband markets have “leapt ahead,” he said. As of June 30, worldwide broadband subscribers exceeded 382 million, up nearly 4 percent from Q1, Point Topic said. At 6.6 percent, global penetration was up 20 percent over the same period a year before, it said. Western Europe continues to have the largest share of broadband subscribers, followed closely by North America, which has the highest population penetration rate, it said. But operators in South and East Asia had the largest number of net additions, with China adding just under 5 million new subscribers, Point Topic said. The fastest- growing technology is fiber-to-the-home/curb, followed by DSL and cable modem, it said. All three connections are growing, but their rate of growth was down compared to Q1, it said.
Exports to China
Prospects for dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks will deteriorate with the proliferation of handsets able to receive free terrestrial analog and DTV signals, U.K. firm Juniper Research said Wednesday. Its report, “TV on the Go,” said that by 2013 more than 330 million mobile users globally will own broadcast TV-enabled handsets, but fewer than 14 percent will opt for mobile pay TV services. Even so, dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks will generate $2.7 billion annual revenue worldwide by 2013 -- markedly lower than forecast, Juniper said. “The development of terrestrial TV-capable receivers with comparatively low power consumption, and the availability of these receivers in mass market handsets, throws into question the business case for the deployment of a dedicated network in many markets,” said Juniper’s Windsor Holden, the report’s author. Free terrestrial services will continue to predominate, Juniper said, citing operator decisions in Germany to offer DVB-T handsets that effectively closed the door to DVB-H there, and strong take-up in China of analog TV handsets and of one-seg handsets in Japan. But the report also said the trend to handsets with terrestrial broadcast reception has created a further opportunity for streamed TV services. “There will always be a market for some form of premium TV service on the mobile handset,” Holden said. “And with broadcast TV in many markets likely to consist simply of the free-to-air terrestrial signals, the gap in the market is likely to be filled by streamed video-on-demand services over the 3G network.” Among other study findings, in 2013 the U.S. will be the largest single market for mobile broadcast TV services in terms of revenue, followed by South Korea and China. Also, Qualcomm’s MediaFLO services likely will be deployed in parts of Asia and in the U.K. by the end of 2010. Adoption of streamed TV packages is higher than envisaged, reflecting the reduction in anticipated deployment of dedicated mobile broadcast TV networks, Juniper said.
By 2013, fewer than 14 percent of the 330 million mobile subscribers worldwide who own broadcast TV-enabled handsets will sign up for premium mobile TV services, Juniper Research predicted. Worldwide mobile broadcast TV revenue will reach $2.7 billion by 2013, it said. It contends the development of handsets capable of receiving free-to-air analog and DTV signals and will adversely impact the commercial prospects for dedicated mobile broadcast research and marketing, it said. The U.S. will be the largest market for mobile broadcast TV services by 2013, edging out South Korea and China, it said. Qualcomm’s mobile TV unit MediaFLO will likely launch in parts of Asia and across the U.K. by 2010, it said, saying streaming mobile TV service will have greater adoption than originally expected due to the reduction in deployment of mobile broadcast TV networks.
Oberon Media, a multiplatform games company, got a $20 million investment from Infinity-China Fund, which focuses on the Israel-China market, Oberon said. The investment is part of a global strategy including expanding game publishing and distribution business, and creating partnerships across China.
Service can begin on the first phase of the Trans- Pacific Express submarine cable system linking mainland China, the U.S., South Korea and Taiwan, said Verizon, an investor in the system. The 11,000-mile fiber cable system was designed to boost capacity and speeds for Asia-Pacific region IP, data and voice communication, Verizon said. The system will add a submarine cable link to Japan, giving the project six landing sites - one in Japan, two in China and one each in Taiwan, South Korea and the U.S.
The mobile industry is showing resilience worldwide amid financial turmoil other industries are experiencing, Portio Research said. The top growth markets for wireless are China and India, which will add over 1 billion subscribers between 2007 and 2013, it said. Brazil is a distant third, with 132 million additional subscribers expected by 2013. Yet mobile voice and data revenues continue to decline, with mobile ARPU expected to fall to $15.80 by the end of 2013 from $23.20 in 2005, largely because additional subscriber growth will come from lower per-capita income markets, it said.
Femtocells and picocells are likely to be an integral part of LTE network deployment, according to analysts at ABI research. Femtocells and picocells are cellular mini-base stations that improve low signal strength indoors. Since LTE networks will likely be operating in higher frequencies in many parts of the world, analysts say these bases can provide better bandwidth indoors where high frequencies don’t penetrate well. The U.S. and China will use lower frequencies than the rest of the world, ABI said, so the need for femtocells will be less pressing. ABI expects deployment of LTE networks to cause a dramatic upswing in femtocell and picocell revenue.
Congress needs to pass legislation creating a system for mapping availability of broadband service throughout the country, senators and panelists said Tuesday at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing. Rural health interests, libraries and the AARP said increased use of broadband could help the economy and make health care more efficient. A national broadband policy is needed to direct deployment efforts, said Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii. “If there is no government policy then it becomes a political issue,” he said. Congress also is at a disadvantage because there isn’t enough specific information about how much it would cost to increase deployment. “We are hungry for facts on what you think it will cost.”
China Unicom shareholders approved the proposed merger with China Netcom and the sale of Unicom’s CDMA mobile phone business to China Telecom, Unicom said. After the sale, Unicom will have one GSM mobile platform.
Global mobile user-generated content (UGC) revenue will reach $7.3 billion in 2013 from $1.1 billion in 2007, Juniper Research forecast. Ad revenue will yield over a third of UGC revenue by 2013, it said. The number of mobile social network users will grow to 730 million by 2013, from 54 million in 2008, with the Far East and China leading the increase, it estimated. Personal content delivery services will account for over nine million downloads by 2013, with 32 percent of them ad-supported, it said.