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| Gartner Dataquest says Asia/Pacific to See Six-Fold Increase in Number of Broadband Subscribers by 2005 |
| Broadband Access Revenue to hit US$5.8 billion by 2005 in Asia/Pacific |
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Hong Kong, August 20, 2001 —Asia/Pacific (excluding Japan) is predicted to have 37.8 million broadband Internet subscribers by 2005, according to Dataquest Inc., a unit of Gartner, Inc. (NYSE: IT and ITB). At the end of 2000, the region had 6.1 million subscribers accessing the Internet through broadband connections. By the end of this year, the number of subscribers will nearly double to 11.4 million broadband subscribers.
Broadband access revenue is expected to grow roughly in line with subscriber growth, hitting $5.8 billion in 2005, up from $732 million at the end of 2000. Revenue from offering services other than Internet access over broadband remain tiny and are not expected to be a major contributor to revenue in the near term; however, longer term there are services such as voice over broadband that will offer the chance to bring in significant new streams of revenue. "With some of the cheapest prices for broadband services anywhere in the world encouraging take-up, Asia/Pacific is fast becoming a global broadband leader," said Andrew Chetham, senior analyst for Gartner Dataquest's Asia/Pacific Telecommunications and Networking group. "The tremendous growth initially experienced in South Korea is now beginning to be seen in markets such as Taiwan and Hong Kong. We expect other developed markets such as Singapore and Australia, which made a slow start, to begin making up ground in the next 18 months." Outside the developed countries, most countries in Asia/Pacific are still slow at broadband deployment, with only a handful of users. Affordability and a lack of competing infrastructure will hold back growth in countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Thailand for another two to three years. The majority of broadband services to the home, and increasingly to the office, are delivered using digital subscriber line (DSL) technologies over the existing telephone infrastructure. This means that the largest providers of broadband access will be monopoly or former monopoly telephone carriers. By 2005, Gartner Dataquest predicts there will be 24.3 million DSL subscribers across the Asia/Pacific region. Other key access technologies will be cable modem and Ethernet. Despite the upbeat environment for broadband, operators face many challenges. In the developed markets, simply providing Internet access is rapidly becoming a commodity-type business, offering the potential of slim margins. This isn't helped by the difficult funding environment and the pressure from the financial markets for quick payback on investments. "As a result, operators need to find services and applications to help them climb the value chain allowing them to add new revenue streams to plain access," Chetham said. "While some applications are proving successful in certain markets - like online games in Korea and Taiwan - a broadband 'killer app' is yet to emerge." More information on this industry is available in Gartner Dataquest's Telecom and Internet Markets Asia/Pacific cluster and Public Services Worldwide cluster. To subscribe to these services, please call 800-419-DATA or 408-468-8000. To keep up to date on the latest telecommunications issues, please visit Gartner's Telecom Marketplace Resource Center at www.gartner.com. Gartner Dataquest is the recognized leader in providing the high-technology and financial communities with market intelligence for the semiconductor, computer systems and peripherals, communications, document management, software and services sectors of the global information technology industry. Gartner, Inc. is a research and advisory firm that helps more than 10,000 clients understand technology and drive business growth. Gartner's divisions consist of Gartner Research, Gartner Consulting, Gartner Measurement and Gartner Events. Founded in 1979, Gartner, Inc. is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, and consists of 4,600 associates, including 1,400 research analysts and consultants, in more than 80 locations worldwide. The company achieved fiscal 2000 revenue of $855 million. For more information, visit www.gartner.com. |
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Contact: James Head +852-3402 0382 james.head@gartner.com |
Contact: Tom McCall 408-468-8312 tom.mccall@gartner.com |
