China to invest 25% of IPTV

Details: Alec Barton; Category: Trends & Forecasts; 09 January 2006; 12918 views

Siemens has predicted that in four years time global investment in Internet Protocol television (IPTV) could touch US$1 billion. Prime mover will be China which will account for 25% of world spend...

Siemens has predicted that in four years time global investment in Internet Protocol television (IPTV) could touch US$1 billion. Prime mover will be China which will account for 25% of world spend.

At present Siemens is very much involved in making this prophecy become reality as the company is working with two Chinese fixed-line carriers: China Telecom Corp and China Netcom Group Corp. Both are preparing for the advent of mass-market IPTV, although to date 20 Chinese cities (and 150,000 customers) have witnessed IPTV trials by Siemens.

Senior executives in Siemens believe that the years of sluggish performance in fixed-line technology have started to climb at about 10%, as against the 5% of the fixed-line market as a whole. In part this is down to IPTV, a new high-tech service in itself, backed-up customisation possibilities, consumer willingness to pay for IPTV, and the presence of other major players.

Siemens assesses China as an enormous TV market, with 360 million viewers and 25 million broadband users. By the target year of 2009 Siemens anticipates 13-16 million by 2009 IPTV customers. Fixed network products and services account for about 23% of the US$15.4 billion revenue for the Siemens communication group in the current fiscal year.

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