Digital Lifescapes

The number of European households within a reach of high-speed broadband of at least 30 Mbps download speeds reached 62 percent of EU homes at the end of 2013, according to a new market study by IHS. The study, sponsored by the European Commission (EC), also shows that 4G LTE wireless coverage across Europe recorded a dramatic 32 percent increase in 2013. One of the main goals of the "Digital Agenda for Europe" is a universal high-speed (at least 30 Mbps download) broadband coverage across the EU by 2020. "According to our research, challenges remain in passing this target, with rural Next Generation Access (NGA) coverage continuing to be especially problematic," said Alzbeta Fellenbaum, senior analyst at IHS . Only 18.1 percent of EU rural homes had access to NGA broadband at the end of 2013. While this represents a considerable improvement by nearly six percentage points compared to 2012, a lot remains to be done if universal NGA coverage is to be achieved...

The device that broadband service providers place in a subscriber's home could be a point of differentiation, but most are basically alike. The vendors merely attempt to reach parity with the stated industry standard requirements. The products are often procured based upon the lowest price. It's surprising that there is no start-up company that's truly attempting to disrupt this product category. Surely, the service providers would notice if anyone created some meaningful and substantive innovation. Telecom and cable companies have said that they crave vendors that offer new ideas. Worldwide broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments are expected to reach 151.9 million by the end of 2014, according to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research. "The residential gateway segment continues to grow at a rapid pace. We expect global shipments will grow more than 9 percent in 2014," said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director at ABI Research . ...

Telecom and Cable TV broadband service providers have continued to invest in their infrastructure during 2013. Broadband customer premise equipment (CPE) shipments at the end of 2013 were expected to surpass 147 million units, according to the latest global market study by ABI Research. The CPE devices counted include broadband modems, wired routers, and home gateways. Despite a growing broadband subscriber base and increasing demand for advanced broadband services, broadband CPE shipments are only expected to grow to 150 million in 2014. "Increasing adoption of fiber-optic broadband services is driving the growth of fiber-optic CPE shipments," said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director at ABI Research . Fiber-optic CPE will represent 26 percent of overall broadband CPE shipped in 2014. Cable and DSL CPE devices will have equal market share of around 37 percent. As cable broadband operators rapidly extend to DOCSIS 3.0 networks, related DOCSIS CPE shipment is gainin...

European pay-TV added 10 million new subscriber homes last year and will reach 152 million by 2017, according to the latest market study by Rethink Research . Telecom service providers took IPTV from 20 million to 25 million in the past year and will reach 43.3 million customers across Europe -- doubling in just 6 years. The largest pay-TV players in Europe will still be News Corp with Sky, Liberty Global in cable and Vivendi with DTH and IPTV plays. Right behind them will be Deutsche Telekom,France Telecom and Iliad's Free. These providers will grow both within IPTV and through the addition of DTH services to run alongside them. European telcos are growing there TV subscribers faster than any other segment of European pay-TV and are set to become serious contenders -- holding their own in broadband and the quad play against cable companies. There's many studies that highlight the higher broadband speeds of cable companies, but there's now new evidence that telcos...

The broadband Internet access market is gaining momentum in Britain, with the total number of superfast lines delivering speeds in excess of 25Mbps set to pass the 250,000 mark this April - according to the latest market study by Point Topic. Point Topic's Chief Analyst, Tim Johnson, says the number is still quite modest -- currently only 1 percent of homes in Britain -- it does mean that superfast broadband could be in a position to follow in the footsteps of first-generation broadband that was deployed 10 years ago. "We went on from there to reach over 13 million broadband lines within five years," he said. "Now we have over 19 million. It's dangerous just to assume that history will repeat itself -- but it's still a good pointer to what will happen to superfast broadband in this decade." Point Topic's estimates for the current penetration are based on its market data from the end of 2010. These show there were 175,000 superfast broadband lin...