According to the latest report from eMarketer, by 2010 about 139 million households worldwide will have the broadband bandwidth sufficient to carry IPTV. The figure helpfully excludes cable broadband subscribers who are unlikely to be offered an alternative television service. The research group considered 2 Mbps or more as sufficient bandwidth for carrying IPTV services. eMarketer called bandwidth the most important requirement for IPTV deployments and a welcoming regulatory environment the second most important. "Unfortunately, in countries such as Japan and South Korea, the two leading broadband nations in the world, IPTV has not come to market because of a lack of regulatory clarity as to whether IPTV falls under the category of Internet service or broadcast service," eMarketer senior analyst Ben Macklin said.
For more on the eMarketer study:
- take a look at the company's site