ABI Research: Cable to account for 25% of fixed broadband subscribers by 2017/Reliance Globalcom activates Al-Faw cable landing station in Iraq
Cable digitization efforts in developing economies will be a key driver for cable broadband penetration worldwide, driving service revenues to the $50 billion mark in 2017, according to the latest market analysis from ABI Research.
Cable operators in developing regions are entering the market for broadband services using the latest technologies – often leapfrogging older protocols. Cable MSOs’ ability to offer traditional video services, broadband services, and digital VoIP services gives cable vendors a triple-play offering that has attracted a large number of consumers.
As of 2011, China accounted for 57% of subscribers in the Asia-Pacific region. Chinese government investment and a cable digitization initiative in an effort to promote competition between TV broadcasters, telecom carriers, and Internet operators have been instrumental in this development.
In the United States, Canada and parts of Western Europe, cable operators’ adoption of DOCSIS 3.0 technology, with higher maximum speeds than DSL, has been a key competitive strength against telcos offering only DSL service.
“Cable MSOs’ marketing focusing on use of advanced services, such as video streaming, and number of devices in the home has encouraged consumers to upgrade to higher bandwidth tiers,” according to Adarsh Krishnan, senior analyst, TV and video at ABI Research.
Looking to next-generation bandwidth-hogging services, including 3D-TV and 4K video resolutions, technology providers are working with operators to prove out the next generation of DOCSIS. DOCSIS 3.1 focuses on upstream channel bonding for higher upload speeds.
“Intel has demonstrated its Puma 6 modem achieving 1-Gbps downlink using 24 channels, while Arris has tied together 12 modems to achieve 4.7-Gbps downlink,” said Sam Rosen, practice director of TV and video at ABI Research (see “Kabel Deutschland achieves 4.7 Gbps downstream with ARRIS gear”).
These findings are part of ABI’s Broadband CPE Research Service, which provides an outlook on operators’ network deployments, consumer adoption and service revenues of cable broadband services as well as analysis of key trends in cable broadband technologies and the market place.
Reliance Globalcom, a subsidiary of Reliance Group, has announced the service launch of the Al-Faw cable landing station (CLS) in Iraq, which was built in alliance with the Iraqi Telecommunications and Post Company (ITPC).
With this development, Reliance Globalcom claims to be the first private subsea service provider to connect directly to Iraq. The Al-Faw CLS will connect Iraq to all the key Middle East countries – Oman, Iran, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Yemen, and Egypt – through Reliance Globalcom’s Falcon submarine cable.
Built with an initial design capacity of 680 Gbps with two diverse routes, Reliance Globalcom has lit an initial 50 Gbps on each route to cater to the existing market demand. There are two diverse routes integrated into the Falcon network, thereby offering a resilient network.
Considering the low broadband penetration in Iraq, the Falcon landing provides a significant milestone towards establishing direct connectivity from Iraq to the rest of the world, and will help boost the nation’s telecom sector. Consumers will be able to enjoy better quality in broadband services and higher internet speeds, the company claims.
His Excellency, the Minister of Communications, Mohammed Allawi said, “This is an extremely important strategic initiative undertaken by ITPC and Reliance Globalcom. This will facilitate the connectivity of all the countries in the Middle East region to Iraq and will also significantly improve the quality and speed as well as the reliability of Iraq’s connectivity to the rest of the world.”
