December 5, 2012

Survey Sez 12/05/12

In the coming months, G.hn formally will become a deployed member of the wired networking market, following the completion of a number of ongoing trials, but there still will be obstacles to overcome. In North America, says ABI Research, MoCA has secured the cable and satellite markets while HomePlug is the leading technology among European telco operators and has the strongest overall retail presence. In addition, HomePNA is supported by several telco operators in North America, and the HomePNA Alliance views Latin America as a high growth market; MoCA is also working to forge a stronger presence in the region. The Asia-Pacific market also holds high-growth opportunity but uncertainties such as governmental influence make the market relatively open. Notes ABI Research TV & video practice director Sam Rosen, “Asia-Pacific, and China in particular, is currently G.hn’s best market opportunity. More broadly speaking, new market opportunities will come from hybrid networking and, assuming the consumer space develops as planned, a retail market for discrete and embedded solutions. To get there, a sizable installed base and consumer education are both essential ingredients to increase consumer mindshare and perceived value of the respective technologies”…During 3Q12, Infonetics Research says LTE activity grew in the United States, Japan and South Korea, accounting for a 30-percent bump in LTE equipment sales worldwide. However, in that same quarter, the global 2G/3G/4G (including LTE and WiMAX, although the WiMAX market is shrinking) infrastructure market was down 4.7 percent from 2Q12 and down 4 percent from 3Q11. Comments Stéphane Téral, principal analyst/Mobile Infrastructure and Carrier Economics, at Infonetics Research, "LTE was indeed the lone bright spot this quarter, as the rest of the mobile infrastructure market dragged the overall market down, led by a sharp drop in CDMA gear. Despite the current lethargy, we anticipate a strong pipeline moving forward, with 2013 fully charged with a good mix of 2G, 3G and LTE equipment purchases”…Berg Insight says HSPA/LTE accounted for 21.8 percent of the total number of broadband connections in Europe at the end of 2011, growing by 12.4 percent year-over-year in 2011 to reach 38.1 million and forecasted to continue to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.7 percent (to 70 million) by 2017. The North American market grew by 47 percent to reach 21.4 million subscribers by the end of 2011, primarily driven by the rapid adoption of tablet data plans. Between 2011 and 2017, the North American market is forecasted to grow at a CAGR of 16.3 percent to reach 53 million subscribers at the end of the period.