RNCOS: IPTV sign-ups steering toward 106 million by 2014

There could be about 106 million IPTV subscribers globally by 2014, representing a 24 percent compound annual growth rate the next three years, according to a new report from India’s RNCOS Industry Research. The report comes a few weeks after a separate piece of research from Point Topic put the global IPTV subscriber base at just under 42 million as of the third quarter of 2010.

RNCOS said the imminent boom will give telecom operators in particular an opportunity to increase customer average revenue per user, and in the U.S., AT&T and Verizon Communications are offering proof it can be done. AT&T last week reported a $20 year-over-year jump in ARPU from triple play bundles to about $160, while Verizon reported a 10.7 percent increase in consumer wireline ARPU, much of which could be attributed to its FiOS TV and broadband offerings.

Like other research on the topic, the RNCOS report says Europe, led by France, Germany and the U.K., is still the biggest regional market for IPTV, but that Asia will soon begin to dominate the sector, with decreasing prices, technology evolution and the large potential number of households for adoption all factoring into the regional boom.

Generally, RNCOS said, IPTV sign-ups and revenue growth will be healthiest where networks are transitioning to fiber for broadband.