As a follow-up study to last week's Infonetics report on triple play capex, the research firm has now estimated that IPTV equipment sales hit $400 million last year and are set to top $6 billion by 2009. The report also estimates worldwide IPTV subscribers will "swell" to 53 million by 2009, while $26 billion of worldwide service provider capex will be spent on IPTV infrastructure. Infonetics also predicts that IPTV service revenue will jump to $38 billion by 2009. Broadband service providers laying fiber or utilizing DSL account for most IPTV SPs currently, but the next few years should see a migration of cable broadband providers migrating to an all-IP triple play, too.
There's that pervasive argument, and it could be true, that subscribers don't care what it's called, they just want TV. I can't help but wonder if that's cable TV proponents talking, knowing they're going to switch to all IP but not wanting to refer to it as IPTV because of the telco association.
For more on the latest Infonetics study:
- see this press release