(19 December 2007 3:00 pm)

MUMBAI: After a 32 per cent jump in sales in the second quarter, worldwide IPTV equipment sales hit $682.5 million in the third quarter of 2007, up 23 per cent sequentially, according to Infonetics Research’s quarterly IPTV Equipment, Services, Subscribers, and Capex report.

Likewise, manufacturers of IP set-top boxes (STBs) saw revenue jump 35 per cent worldwide in 3Q07 from 2Q07, the report shows.

Infonetics Research directing analyst for IPTV Jeff Heynen says, “IPTV, in its pure and hybrid forms, continues to grow steadily and is poised for bigger growth as operators clear regulatory hurdles, as MPEG-4 HD set-top boxes become more widely available, and as operators lock up exclusive broadcasting arrangements with professional sports leagues, movie studios, and international programmers. We expect the number of IPTV subscribers to continue growing steadily, reaching 65 million worldwide in 2010.”

Growth in worldwide service provider revenue from IPTV services is expected to grow more than 10-fold in the five years between 2006 and 2010. Worldwide IPTV middleware revenue is up one per cent in 3Q07 from 2Q07.

Motorola leads in the worldwide pure IP STB and hybrid IP/QAM STB markets in 3Q07; Dasan Networks leads the hybrid IP/over-the-air STB market.

Fifty-one per cent of worldwide IPTV equipment revenue in 3Q07 comes from Asia Pacific, 33 per cent from Europe, Middle East and Africa, 16 per cent from North America.