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Thursday, 09 April 2009 |
IPTV subscriptions in Western Europe soared last year despite the economic downturn, with 45% growth between December 2007 and December 2008.
This represents an increase in subscribers from 7.06 million to 10.3 million. The market was also resilient in the last quarter with a 10% growth in subscribers from 9.2 million to 10.3 million.
Of all the European markets, France had the widest adoption of IPTV with growth of 23% year on year to 5.7 million, more than half of all subscribers in Western Europe.
The figures come from a report written by analysts Point Topic for the Broadband TV forum. The report was released at the recent IPTV World Forum trade show.
Senior analyst at Point Topic John Bosnell attributed growth in Western Europe to a diverse and mature DSL market. He also gave two reasons for the particular strength in the French market: "It is both the result of a weak cable market, and stiff competition between independent provider Free and France Telecom, " he said. "Free has maintained a very low price for its bundled phone, TV and broadband package and France Telecom has had to raise its game to compete."
Bosnell attributes relatively low growth in the UK in 2008 to a strong cable and satellite market. However, BT still managed to increase its IPTV subscribers from 120,000 to 376,000 year on year. Italy, Germany and Austria also increased their growth in the fourth quarter despite market conditions.
Worldwide, IPTV subscription has also increased apace, with subscribers up by 63% year on year and 12% in the last quarter. Much of this worldwide growth came from the US which increased its IPTV subscribers by a whopping 79% in 2008 year on year. Bosnell said: "AT+T and Horizon got their networks in place at the end of 2007 they then ramped up their subscribers throughout the year."
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