At the end of June 2013, there were 656.5m fixed broadband lines worldwide. This represents growth of 0.7% in the quarter, which is the slowest quarterly growth reported by Point Topic since 1998.

The key reason for this slowdown is a net reduction in the total number of broadband subscribers reported in China. Whilst China is posting exceptional growth in FTTH subscriber numbers, this has been offset by a reduction in DSL subscriptions. In total, China lost nearly half a million broadband subscribers in the quarter, as reported by the Chinese telecoms regulator.

The global market for connectable set-top boxes (STBs) is expected to surge by 91 percent from 2012 through 2017, driven by a number of factors including the adoption of multimedia home gateways (MHGs).

NSR’s Satellite Operator Financial Analysis (SOFA), 3rd Edition to be released tomorrow, found total revenues among all satellite operators increased by 2.2% in U.S. dollar terms from 2011 to 2012, with the combined revenues of all reporting operators boosted to US$11.39 billion in 2012. While the Big Four (Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, Telesat) still remain dominant, capturing 65.6% of revenues, regional players are slowly catching up, increasing their total market share from 33.2% of revenues in 2011 to 34.4% in 2012.

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. 

Global online TV and video revenues (over fixed broadband networks) will reach US$ 34.99 billion in 2018, a massive increase from the US$ 3.98 billion recorded in 2010 and the $15.94 billion expected in 2013, according to the Online TV and Video Forecasts report from Digital TV Research.

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.