Asia

SPOTLIGHT: Vietnam number confusion

Doug Mohney — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 15:58:37 -0400

Vietnam has added more digits to its phone numbers, and the decision is currently confusing landline users, though it will ultimately enable the addition of thousands of new subscribers.

All six of Vietnam's fixed-line companies have added an extra digit so they can make more phone numbers available. More than 13 million subscribers have been affected in the change. The new change-over was made by adding an extra number after the area code, but each company has added a different number for their subscriber base.

For more:
- Viet Nam News on new digit addition to phone numbers

Carrier IPTV connection rates up around the world

Doug Mohney — Thu, 16 Oct 2008 21:43:31 -0400

Worldwide subscriptions to IPTV rose to 17 million in the quarter ending June 30, a 11 percent increase from the previous quarter and a 95 percent increase from a year ago, says Point Topic .

Analysts say China and other parts of Asia will lead IPTV growth over the next five years; Western Europe currently has the most IPTV users, and AT&T is ramping up its U-verse service in the U.S.

While initial trials in Switzerland by Microsoft reportedly ran into technical problems, Switzerland IPTV subs rose 20 percent in the second quarter of this year to 80,000, capturing about 2.3 percent of households.

IPTV is also on a role in emerging markets in Eastern Europe, Latin America, and more exotic destinations like Sri Lanka and Ghana.

Gartner forecasts worldwide IPTV subscriptions will reach 54.8 million by 2010, up from an estimate of 19.6 million made at the end of 2007. If the prediction holds, 2.8 percent of households worldwide will have IPTV service by 2010, up from 1.1 percent this year.

In the U.S. Gartner says AT&T's U-verse and Verizon's FiOS services could reach 10 percent of households by 2010. Currently, AT&T has 549,000 U-verse subs and Verizon has 1.4 million FiOS subs, but only a "small percentage" of the subscribers get FiOS TV service.

The big news is in China, where an analyst at iSuppli estimates about 21 million IPTV subscribers by 2012, up from 1.9 million at the end of this year. South Korean phone companies are just starting to roll out live TV as a part of their IPTV services; regulators had limited phone companies to video-on-demand offerings. The country currently has 1.5 million IPTV users.

For more:
- Investor's Business Daily reports carriers worldwide hooking up IPTV to more subscribers. Article.

Cisco's billion dollar Indian bet

Doug Mohney — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 22:41:42 -0400

Cisco is investing over a billion dollars in India to tap into the country's markets and intellectual capital.

Unlike other companies that treat the country as a glorified call center, Cisco views India as a cradle of innovation with thousands of engineering graduates a year. Eventually, 20 percent of Cisco's top management will be based in India, with Cisco's Bangalore campus serving as its "second headquarters." Bangalore's 5,000 employee staff is expected to double over the next few years.

Cisco employees in San Jose and other western outposts worry about their jobs, as there are more than 1 billion people in India, 1 billion people in China and 300 million people in Indonesia. The Bangalore campus puts Cisco executives within a five hour flight of 70 percent of the world's population.

More than half of Cisco's nearly $40 billion in revenues came from North America last year, but if the company is to reach its aggressive growth targets of 12 to 17 percent per year, broth in emerging markets will be critical.

For more:
- San Jose Mercury News reports on Cisco's quest for global dominance.

China Telecom's impressive broadband growth

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 23:06:17 -0400

China Telecom added more than 4 million broadband users in the first half of the year, averaging nearly 710,000 new users every month, popping the big telecom firm over 40 million DSL subscribers, nearly 16 percent of the world’s 238 million total DSL subscribers, says the Broadband Forum. Add to that the 23.4 million DSL customers China Netcom claims and the duo accounts for nearly 25 percent of the world’s DSL subscribers.

According to first quarter Broadband Forum numbers, DSL accounts for 65 percent of all high-speed fixed line connections.

For more:
See the Light Reading story

Related articles:
Report: Broadband subs to hit 171 millionin Asia by end of year. Asia broadband growth report
Russian telcos look to grow in Asian markets. Russian telco report
U.S. carriers eye China, India. U.S. carrier report

Will FTTH become FTEH (fiber to every home?)

Jim O'Neill — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 10:41:41 -0400

Emerging markets may embrace FTTH more than more mature markets as new construction will often include fiber as a standard option by 2010, Hong Kong-based Aspen Optics says, explaining its expansion into the international market.

Most residential and commercial properties under construction in the UAE, for example, are fiber ready as the Emirates pursue high-speed connectivity. The governments of Singapore and Australia also have been active in sponsoring the deployment of fiber and infrastructure upgrades to expand optical networks.

Aspen says increasing demand for high speed broadband in commercial, industrial, medical applications is pushing the use of fiber instead of copper.

For more:
- See this story in Wireless Design & Development

Related articles:
20 million European homes to have FTTH European FTTH report
FTTH moves into the limelight FTTH report