Analyst recognises ZTE's strength in growing IPTV market

As it made its annual Best Practice Award for 2010 IPTV Equipment Vendor of the Year, industry analyst Frost & Sullivan (F&S) is predicting the IPTV market to maintain high growth over the next four years at least.

F&S presented its 2010 IPTV award to ZTE Corporation (ZTE) in recognition of what it says is the company's "remarkable efforts toward the development of the IPTV equipment market."

It also noted that despite intense competition in the IPTV equipment market, ZTE offered what it called "excellent" technology, complete end-to-end solutions, and good relationships with broadband carriers. Going forward the analyst thought likely that with complete end-to-end solutions, triple-play applications, and low operating cost, ZTE will witness an increase in its share in the European and North American markets in 2011, meeting carriers' demand for low operating cost during the economic crisis.

On a broader note, F&S argues that with the development of the global broadband market, IPTV content and application have become more important and that the IPTV equipment market is likely to maintain a high growth rate over the next four years.

For the first half of 2010, F&S calculated the global IPTV penetration rate to be 7.8%, with revenues for the world IPTV equipment market increasing from $450 million in 2005 to $12.1 billion in 2009, an average annual growth rate of 127.7%.

The analyst expects global IPTV subscribers to increase to 62.0 million by the end of 2010 and 268.0 million in 2014, a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 44.1%. In addition to the mature IPTV markets in Europe and the US, F&S says that the IPTV equipment market in Asia also has witnessed a gradual large-scale growth, especially in the south and East Asia. Indeed, it regards Asia as the world's most important emerging IPTV equipment market.