Consumers love Pay-TV: Led by the Asia-Pacific region, the global pay-TV subscriber base (which consists of cable TV, satellite TV and telco-based IPTV subscribers) grew 8 percent to reach 804 million worldwide pay-TV subscriber households in 2012, according to MRG. The chart below further illustrates the growth of worldwide pay-TV subscriber households from 2010 – 2012:
However, in more mature markets such as North America, pay-TV households remained flat during 2012, ending the year with 112 million subscriber households. "Even with the ongoing debate about the value of pay-TV services versus the cost of pay-TV services, one thing remains clear: Consumers around the world love to watch TV, and they remain both ready and willing to pay for it," according to MRG. "Despite the threats of 'cord cutting' or alternative TV distribution technologies, we expect pay-TV service providers will, for the foreseeable future, continue to be the leading players in the delivery of TV services to the home." Article
Peru's telcos beef up their networks: Peru's telecom regulator Osiptel reported that investment in the country's telecom sector rose 10 percent in 2012 to $964 million. The majority of the investment, about $636 million, or 65 percent, was dedicated to expanding wireless networks. Telefonica's Peru-based unit spent the largest sum, doling out $281 million to extend and improve its local wireline networks. Meanwhile, Movistar's competitors Claro and Nextel del Peru invested $296.8 million and $80.6 million, respectively, on their wireless networks. Article
100G utility continues to broaden: While the 100G market segment only began to emerge in 2010, new market research from Frost & Sullivan revealed that it rose 210 percent and 387 percent in 2011 and 2012, respectively. The research firm forecast that the global 100G market will grow from $892 million in 2012 to $4.8 billion by 2016, with a CAGR of over 52.2 percent. Among the main applications for 100G is providing interconnection for IP/MPLS core routers, and data centers. Other potential applications will include wireless backhaul, metro network connectivity and ultra-long reach networks. The market continues to be dominated by five vendors-- Alcatel-Lucent (NYSE: ALU), Huawei, Infinera (Nasdaq: INFN), Ciena (Nasdaq: CIEN) and ZTE--which accounted for over 76.2 percent of the market share by unit shipments. Release