Ericsson today revealed the scale of the Africa's ongoing data revolution with traffic growth doubling the past year. The June 2014 Sub-Saharan Africa Ericsson Mobility Report shows that in 2014 phone users accessed 76,000 TB (terabyte) of data per month, double the 2013  figure of 37,500 TB per month. In 2015 the figures are expected to double again with mobile phone users accessing 147,000 TB per month.

Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its latest Broadcast and Streaming Video Equipment and Pay TV Subscribers report, which tracks pay-TV subscribers and video equipment sold to telco IPTV, cable, and satellite TV providers.

Broadband access in Brazil is facing a massive challenge as the country prepares to host the FIFA World Cup and the expected millions of soccer fans armed with their mobile phones, smart TVs, PCs and tablets. Participating at today’s Broadband and TV Connect Latin America event in São Paulo, the Broadband Forum said that the World Cup – coupled with 2016’s Olympic Games – is going to test Brazil’s broadband infrastructure across all technologies.

Global pay TV revenues [subscription fees and on-demand movies and TV episodes] will climb to $209 billion in 2020, up from US$193 billion in 2013, according  to a new report from Digital TV Research. The Digital TV World Revenue  Forecasts report states that the fast growth years are over - as a point of  comparison revenues grew by $24 billion between 2010 and 2013. 

NSR’s newly released Energy Markets via Satellite, 4th Edition finds a challenging market for Arctic-based Oil & Gas satellite connectivity services. Even as more attention continues to move towards the Arctic – for both the transportation of petroleum via tankers through the Northern Sea Route or Exploration & Production activities from O&G players – the market does not provide a green light for widespread satellite communication solutions as found in other areas such as the North Sea, Gulf of Mexico, or the shale-plays in the lower 48 states.

Point Topic in its latest set of global broadband forecasts, predicts that the worldwide number of fixed broadband lines will reach 989.4 million by the end of December 2020.

While the growth rate appears relatively static, it is not as strong as some previous estimates. The forecasts are based on individual growth calculations for 114 countries which are supplemented by combined calculation for remaining countries and territories. Further details on our forecasting methodology are included later in this report.

Digital TV penetration will reach two-thirds of total TV households in the Middle East & Africa region by end-2014; having crossed the halfway mark in 2011,  according to a new report from Digital TV Research. The Digital TV Middle East  & Africa Databook (covering 56 countries) estimates that digital TV penetration  will be 73.8% in the Middle East & North Africa (up from 64.3% in 2010) and 57.1%  in Sub-Saharan Africa (up from only 19.2% in 2010).

Market research firm Infonetics Research released excerpts from its 2014 IP Set-Top Box Features and Vendor Leadership: Global Service Provider Survey, which analyzes the trends and assesses the needs of service providers deploying IP set-top boxes (STBs) to deliver video services.

The Satellite Industry Association (SIA) today released its 2014 State of the Satellite Industry Report, showing a three percent growth rate in world satellite industry revenues in 2013.Globally, 2013 revenues for the satellite industry totaled US$ 195.2 billion, up from US$ 188.8 billion the previous year.

NSR’s newly released Satellite Manufacturing and Launch Services (SMLS), 4th Edition, report finds the satellite industry fared well in the past 12 months, with more than 100 satellites ordered and more than 100 satellites launched. In total, the combined satellite manufacturing & launch industry generated almost $35 billion globally in 2013.