Broadband obviously isn’t a growth engine anymore, but it’s underpinning the growth of new communications services such as IPTV. A report commissioned by The Broadband Forum shows that television delivered via broadband is up 63 percent globally. Meanwhile, broadband growth has slowed to the single digits around the world. Another interesting footnote from the research is that while DSL is the most popular access technology at 65 percent, fiber has doubled to 12 percent during 2008, driven in part by demand for services such as IPTV that require faster speeds.
Stacey, there’s different ways to measure market saturation, in terms relative to the global market leaders in Asia-Pacific. Most of Europe and virtually all of North America doesn’t have anywhere near the bandwidth offerings that are common in Japan and South Korea — so demand might shift to service upgrades in markets outside Asia-Pac. Granted, at the right price point.
Also, market saturation for basic access seems to force SPs further up the stack to the applications layer, and beyond to the experience layer. Perhaps that’s a good thing, and it will create opportunities that extend beyond the current norm.