MUMBAI: India and China seem to be the key countries, that are likely to propel the growth and increase of broadband revenues in the Asia-Pacific region and double from 20.7 billion US dollars last year to 55.1 billion US dollars in 2011, as indicated by the Arizona based In-Stat research agency.
The research indicates that the broadband future hinges on developing countries. Thus, Asia's broadband future depends on countries like Thailand, India, China, Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
These findings highlight that the broadband user base stood at 86.6 million in 2005 and the number will set to increase nearly threefold to 235.7 million users in five years.
“In less developed markets like China and India, broadband access services are expected to demonstrate impressive growth through 2011, and constitute the bulk of Asia Pacific’s broadband subscriber expansion,” says In-Stat analyst Bryan Wang.
He added, “Wide availability of low prices in cyber cafes in these markets is allowing people to experience broadband services without a fixed charge, which will stimulate potential new subscriptions.”
Countries such as Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Singapore have been the key drivers of the growth broadband space in the past.
Tier-1 markets Japan and South Korea contributed more than 60 per cent of total revenue in 2005, followed by Tier-2 markets Hong Kong, Taiwan, Australia, and Singapore contributing around 15 per cent, the research firm says.
The findings also highlighted that the next-generation broadband services strategy in markets like Japan, South Korea and Hong Kong is to promote value-added broadband services, driven by the launch of compelling broadband content (i.e. IPTV and VoIP) and innovative broadband pricing plans.
Various connection technologies will be competing through 2011, with the current dominating technology, DSL, facing price competition from cable modem and satellite. In the long run, compelling content or 'killer broadband applications', will be the key to success.
This research is part of In-Stat's Asia Consumer Convergence Service, which takes an in-depth look at digital home networking related products by country as well as applications markets. This makes it an unique service for anyone interested in consumer markets, in extremely dynamic Asian markets such as China, India, Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
