Market Trends
- Broadband evolution is being driven by the digitalization of society, digital natives and advanced services such as telemedicine, IPTV and telepresence.
- Broadband, both fixed and mobile, is growing rapidly. By 2013 there will be nearly 3 billion subscriptions. The majority will be mobile broadband.
- Ericsson ConsumerLab’s global research provides crucial insight into all user segments – from early adopters to mature consumers – what they have, how they use it, and what they expect in the future.
- Web 2.0 is turning broadband users into content producers, and they are demanding more bandwidth for the videos, images and music they create and share.
- Consumer demand for broadband at home is increasing thanks to the emergence of the digital home, including high-bandwidth services such as interactive and HDTV.
- Continual connection is in demand – 50 percent of all internet users want to take their internet connection wherever they go.
- Mobile broadband services now deliver data speeds and prices comparable to fixed alternatives.
- Fixed broadband access is evolving towards ultra-high bandwidth thanks to an increasing number of fiber installations.
From virtually no broadband subscriptions in 2000, there are now well above 400 million. There will be about 3 billion broadband subscriptions by 2013, of which 80 percent are likely to use mobile access.
As broadband becomes ubiquitous, consumer demand for richer services requiring higher capacity and improved quality will increase. Broadband availability symbiotically fuels the content industry and as a result the demand for rich services, such as music, video, mobile TV and HDTV, will continue to grow.
There were 14 million IPTV subscribers worldwide at the end of 2007, expected to grow to 24 million by the end of 2008. We predict there will be 140 million IPTV subscribers by 2013.
Today, fixed broadband is the main access medium. Increased competition and new entrants have led to an increased focus on even higher speeds provided by fiber access.
When it comes to mobile broadband, more cost-effective rollouts and increased capacity are encouraging more operators to upgrade to HSPA, while benefits such as access anywhere and low user prices are driving growth on the consumer side.
HSPA and LTE are the way forward. Today there are about 200 HSPA networks in more than 85 countries around the world. By 2013 there will be nearly 2.2 billion mobile broadband subscriptions with the majority of subscribers using HSPA/LTE.
Gigabit Passive Optical Network (GPON) is currently one of the fastest fixed broadband access technologies, and it is attracting great attention. It supports a wide range of applications/services, in particular high-bandwidth unicast and broadcast video/TV.
Furthermore, increased traffic volumes, both in fixed and mobile broadband networks, are generating an increased focus on smart and adequate transport solutions.
LTE will add even further capacity and higher peak data rates. Major operators such as Verizon Wireless, DoCoMo, China Mobile and Telia Sonera have chosen LTE as their future technology path.
