Posted: 07th Sep, 2006 By: MarkJ
Gartner has predicted that Internet TV (IPTV) services will face a struggle despite the market being expected to hit 48.8 million subscribers by 2010. However, turning this into a profit will not be so easy:
"Global IPTV revenue during the period will grow from $872m [£464m] in 2006 to a still relatively modest $13.2bn [£7bn] by 2010," said Elroy Jopling, research director for Gartner's Consumer Communication Services group. "IPTV will not be a panacea to replace diminishing voice revenue for carriers, but in the medium term it can be a powerful tool for carriers in helping to retain customers on existing voice and broadband services."
Gartner maintained that carriers must understand the opportunities before them if they are to take advantage of IPTV."Carriers need to look beyond the immediate revenue opportunity to understand the longer-term importance of IPTV," said the report.
"This is because IPTV is not a single service; it is in reality a new carrier distribution platform over which many consumer communication and entertainment services can eventually be offered."It's estimated that global IPTV subscribers will reach 6.4m by the end of 2006 and 13.3m in 2007. More @
VNUNet.