Impressive DBS Growth Offers Encouragement for Telcos Deploying Video -- According to Yankee Group estimates, "direct broadcast satellite (DBS) operators DIRECTV and EchoStar had a combined total of 24.8 million subscribers at the end of 2004, up from 21.6 million a year earlier. DIRECTV gained 1.7 million subscribers while EchoStar gained 1.4 million. Although population growth drove part of this growth, much of it has come at the expense of cable. In the same time frame, we estimate that cable operators lost between 600,000 and 800,000 subscribers. Although troubled cable companies Adelphia and Charter accounted for about half of those losses, others including Time Warner, Insight and Mediacom also lost a substantial number of subscribers."
The world of eCommerce payments has evolved. As we look toward the latter half of this decade, we're witnessing a transformation in how digital commerce operates, with a clear shift toward localized payment solutions within a global marketplace. The numbers tell a compelling story. According to Juniper Research's latest analysis, global eCommerce transactions are set to reach $11.4 trillion by 2029, marking a 63 percent increase from $7 trillion in 2024. This growth isn't just about volume – it's about fundamental changes in how people pay for goods and services online. Perhaps most striking is the projected dominance of Alternative Payment Methods (APMs), which are expected to account for 69 percent of global transactions by 2029, with 360 billion transactions processed through these channels. eCommerce Payments Market Development What makes this shift particularly interesting is how it reflects the democratization of digital commerce. Traditional card-based systems ar...