Telephone companies are installing more Internet TV,
driving higher demand for set-top boxes that the
support the service, a research firm said Monday.
As a result, shipments of
Internet protocol/
DSL boxes are expected to grow to 16.9 million in
2009 from 1.7 million in 2004, In-Stat said. By the
end of the forecast, IP/DSL boxes are expected to
surpass digital cable boxes.
Nevertheless, the research firm expects a shakeout
over the next few years among manufacturers.
"There are over 80 vendors offering IP/DSL set top
boxes today," In-Stat analyst Michelle Abraham said in
a statement. "That's too many vendors for a market of
this size. Only about 25 of them have telco
customers."
In other findings in the recent In-Stat study, the
average selling price of the IP/DSL boxes was highest
in the North America, due to the demand for a
digital video recorder,
high-definition playback and multi-room
capabilities. And the greatest technology shift in
IP/DSL boxes is the move to advanced vide compression,
which requires more memory and more powerful video
decoders than the current
MPEG-2 standard.
Subsea cable alternatives can provide a level of comfort for those concerned about disruptions. Realistically, they will continue to play a small, but critical role in the short term.
Maintaining existing network infrastructures often incurs huge technical debt before newer technologies are adopted over time.
Amid ongoing regional uncertainties, telecom infrastructure in the Middle East has expand to include terrestrial low-latency network infrastructure, which offers resilience and agility in navigating political complexities without relying solely on undersea networks.
