Global IPTV deployments to date wouldsuggest that a half-hearted approach to IPTV services has not been effective.Many service providers feel the urge to launch IPTV services as a defensivestrategy to increase their "n-play" offerings with one more service.

Frost & Sullivan research analyst Adeel Najam believes that IPTV requiresa full-throttle implementation to really take-off. "As the broadcasting andpay-TV industry is uncharted territory for most telecom players, telcos willneed to penetrate the market with an offensive approach, complete with acontent acquisition strategy, to successfully attract cable or satellite TVsubscribers," he says.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan, IPTV Business Case, reveals thatthe IPTV subscriber base in Asia-Pacific -- covering 13 countries -- reached4.1 million in 2007 and estimates this to reach 22.4 million by end-2013, at aCAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 32.7 percent (2007-2013).

Of the 13 countries, eight had commercial IPTV services in 2007, while therest are conducting trials for expected deployments from 2009 onwards.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides serviceproviders, vendors/manufacturers, end users, and other industry participantswith an overview of the Asia-Pacific IPTV services market, then send an e-mailto Sarah Lourdes at sarah.lourdes@frost.com, with your full name, companyname, title, telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Upon receipt ofthe above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

Asia-Pacific accounted for about a third of the global IPTV subscriberbase last year. Apart from South Korea, which does not have true IPTV service,the top two Asia-Pac countries by subscribers as of end-2007 are Hong Kongwith 24.9 percent (1.02 million subscribers) of the region's IPTV subscriberbase and China with 22.7 percent (0.93 million).

Hong Kong has the highest household IPTV penetration rate at 45.3 percent,and is the only market where IPTV dominates the pay-TV industry with a 46.7percent subscriber market share in 2007. Cable TV controls 41 percent of HongKong's 2.18 million pay-TV subscriber market, while satellite DTH(direct-to-home) services hold the remaining 12.3 percent.

With only a handful of successful IPTV roll-outs --- Hong Kong's PCCW,which launched its IPTV service in 2003, being one of the few in the world --and EBITDA (earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation)margins still in the red for most, if not all, IPTV service providers, criticsargue that the business case for IPTV does not exist and payday is too long await.

Najam, however, believes that it is a case of unrealistic expectations. "Along payback period is not unique to IPTV services, but is the case for allpay-TV services," he says, adding that cumulative payback periods of overseven years are the norm rather than the anomaly due to the intensive capitalexpenditure required for infrastructure build up and content acquisition.

According to Najam, IPTV service is a must for operators with broadbandspeeds upwards of 10Mbps in order to fully optimise bandwidth capacity.

"Service providers with high-speed broadband transmission networks havethe competitive advantage in deploying IPTV services as they can leveragetheir networks to offer bandwidth intensive services like high-definition TV(HDTV)," says Najam.

"The first line of attack for any fixed-network operator to realisticallytransform into a multi-play service provider offering voice, data and videoservices is by converting its existing broadband subscribers," he adds. "Thiswill ensure lower subscriber churn rates and increase operator revenues andARPU (average revenue per user) through service bundling."

The competitive advantage of IPTV over cable and satellite TV services isthe ability to provide viewers with a richer viewing experience throughinnovative and interactive value-added services such as network-basedtime-shift TV, personal video recording, video-on-demand, and evenInternet-based services like online bookings, online network games and onlinebanking.

Najam, however, points out that content is critical for IPTV to succeed asconsumers understand only the 'TV' element of IPTV. "Content exclusivity is adefinite advantage, although not a prerequisite," he says.

"Acquiring broadcast rights to popular content such as live sportingevents and premium broadcast channels requires huge investments which can taketime to recoup," adds Najam.

Over time, wider deployment of IPTV is expected to increase competition inthe pay-TV industry and encourage the introduction of innovative value-addedservices and production of local content. "We expect this to eventually reducethe overall cost of multi-play services and boost uptake of IPTV," Najamconcludes. "In some cases we also expect governments and regulators to createa level playing field between various technology platforms in terms of contentownership, which would give the industry a fillip."

The IPTV Business Case study is part of the Communication Services GrowthPartnership Service program, which also includes research in the followingmarkets: WAN services, enterprise mobility, online content services,user-generated content (UGC), social networking, broadband access technology,telecom services, managed and hosted services, and network transformation casestudies. All research services included in subscriptions provide detailedmarket opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated followingextensive interviews with market participants. Analyst interviews areavailable to the press.

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, partners with clients toaccelerate their growth. The company's TEAM Research, Growth Consulting andGrowth Team Membership empower clients to create a growth-focused culture thatgenerates, evaluates and implements effective growth strategies. Frost &Sullivan employs over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 30offices on six continents.

Source:PRNewswire