Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its 2nd quarter 2013 (2Q13) Set-Top Boxes and Pay TV Subscribers market share and forecast report, which tracks IP, cable, satellite, and digital terrestrial (DTT) set-top boxes (STBs) and over-the-top (OTT) media servers.

“There are real unit shipment declines occurring in North America and Western Europe that won’t be offset by growth in Asia Pacific and Latin America until 2014.”

Leading hi-tech mobile analysts Juniper Research estimates that the number of smartphone shipments exceeded a quarterly record of 250 million in Q3 2013, representing a y-o-y growth of almost 49% from Q3 2012, and q-o-q growth of 10%. Samsung now accounts for a third of all smartphones shipped with an estimated 85 million smartphones – a record for the company. The company reported a 26% growth in profit, driven by an increase of smartphone sales in both Premium and Economy segments.

The World Teleport Association (WTA) today announced a new research initiative, Teleport Business Benchmarks. This new study seeks to develop a set of industry-wide financial and operating ratios for independent commercial teleport operations. 

The golden age of telecoms growth and prosperity is waning, according to Ovum. New research from the global analyst firm predicts that global connections will grow by a CAGR of less than 4 percent between 2012 and 2018, while global revenues will grow at less than half that rate. As growth slows and ARPU continues to decline, operators will need to find new ways to serve customers more profitably, not just focus on increasing subscriber numbers, says Ovum.

The number of TV sets connected to the Internet will reach 759 million by 2018 for 40 countries covered in the Connected TV Forecasts report, up from 115 million  at end-2010 and the 307 million expected at end-2013. This translates to 26.8% of 
global TV sets by 2018, up from only 5.1% at end-2010 and 12.4% by end-2013. 

Connected TV is becoming more international. The US will still command a third of  connected TV sets by end-2013, but this proportion will fall to 23.5% by 2018. China will climb from 6.6% of the 2013 total to 16.4% by 2018. 

More than 8 billion Internet-connected video devices will be installed worldwide in 2017, exceeding the population of the planet, according to research from  the Broadband Technology Service at IHS Inc.

The installed base of video-enabled devices that are connected to the Internet—a category that includes diverse product such as tablets, smart TVs, games consoles, smartphones, connected set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, and PCs—will expand to 8.2 billion units in 2017. This will represent a nearly 90 percent increase from 4.3 billion in 2013..

Mobile broadband over smartphones and tablets has become the fastest growing segment of the global ICT market, according to ITU’s flagship annual report Measuring the Information Society 2013. New figures released today show buoyant global demand for information and communication technology (ICT) products and services, steadily declining prices for both cellular and broadband services, and unprecedented growth in 3G uptake.

By end 2013 there will be 6.8 billion total mobile-cellular subscriptions – almost as many as there are people on the planet.

New research and analysis by the Arab Advisors Group reveals that as of August 2013 the four satellite Pay TV operators, broadcasting from the region, offered a combined total of 151 channels. OSN is the leader in terms of the number of offered channels.  

Four satellite Pay TV providers broadcast from the Arab World. Namely: Orbit Showtime Network (OSN), Al Jazeera Sports+, Abu Dhabi Sports and Al Majd. Expectedly, Al Jazeera Sports+ offers the highest number of sports Pay TV channels with 20 sports channels.

NSR’s Global Satellite-Based Earth Observation (EO), 5th Edition report, released today, projects satellite-based EO revenues from Data, Processing and Information Products will reach $6 billion in the coming ten years, up from $2.2 billion in 2012. Facing a difficult public sector budgetary climate, the EO industry is now shifting its roots from Government & Military customers to blooming Commercial verticals, with the latter representing more than 50% of the market in 2022.

Consumer uptake of 3D hardware continues apace, with the market on track to achieve 157.7 million 3DTV sales in 2017, up from a forecast of 59.3 million for 2013, according to a new report from Futuresource Consulting.