China IPTV subs to double in 2010
March 25, 2010
Subscribers in China to IPTV will double in 2010, the result of an official government push to accelerate convergence among the country's various telecommunications, broadcast and Internet operators.
Subscribers in China to IPTV will jump to 8.5 million in 2010, rising by a hefty 96 per cent from 4.4 million in 2009, according to iSuppli. And while growth rates during the next three years will not equal the 2010 peak, IPTV development will continue to acquire impressive momentum, reaching expansion rates as high as 51 per cent, iSuppli estimates. By 2014, IPTV subscribers in China will exceed 31 million.
“The rise in IPTV subscribers in 2010 and beyond will be driven primarily by deployments among China's broadcasters, which hold the prized IPTV licences,” said Loren Zhao, an analyst for iSuppli's China Research. “Despite a policy by the State Council of China in January 2010 encouraging the country's telecom carriers, broadcast operators and Internet firms to enter one another's fields and provide services, the three-way convergence policy is skewed against telecom carriers. Unlike the broadcast operators, which are allowed a wider leeway in the range of services they offer, telecom carriers face strong regulation, can participate only in radio and television transmission and are proscribed from taking part in the content integration and broadcast sectors.”