Broadband subs in Asia-Pac to cross 170 million this year

SINGAPORE--(Business Wire)--
Asia-Pacific's broadband subscriber base is expected to reach 171
million by the end of 2008, representing a year-on-year growth of 31.5
percent and a household broadband penetration rate of only 19.7
percent.

The surge in demand for broadband is driven by the growing
popularity of video-on-demand, multi-player online games, video
content sharing and social networking services such as YouTube and
Facebook, as well as the aggressive push by operators to offer
innovative bundled triple- and quadruple-play services.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan
(http://www.communicationservices.frost.com), Asia Pacific Broadband
Access Technology and Market Comparison, reveals that the broadband
subscriber base in the region - covering 13 Asia-Pacific countries -
reached 129.7 million in 2007 and estimates this to reach 321.8
million by end-2013, at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 19.9
percent (2008-2013).

The total broadband revenues in Asia-Pacific stood at US$28.1
billion in 2007. This is projected to reach a market size of US$42
billion by end-2013, growing at CAGR of 7.1 percent (2008-2013).

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides
service providers, vendors/manufacturers, end users, and other
industry participants with an overview of the Asia-Pacific broadband
access technology market, then send an e-mail to Sarah Lourdes at
sarah.lourdes@frost.com, with your full name, company name, title,
telephone number, fax number, and e-mail address. Upon receipt of the
above information, an overview will be sent to you by e-mail.

Total number of broadband subscribers grew 19.2 percent in 2007
and household penetration rate stood at 15.2 percent. By 2013, the
household broadband penetration rate is forecasted to hit 33.7
percent.

The top five Asia-Pac countries with the highest household
broadband penetration rates in 2007 are South Korea (90.8 percent),
Hong Kong (83.8 percent), Taiwan (76.8 percent), Singapore (73.1
percent), and Australia (63.2 percent). Japan has a 57.8 percent
penetration rate, while the remaining seven markets have household
broadband penetration rates of less than 50 percent. India and
Indonesia registered the lowest penetration rates at 1.4 percent and
0.57 percent respectively.

"As fixed-line substitution and voice migration to mobile
continues, broadband value-added services (VAS) become critical
drivers for fixed-line service providers," notes Frost & Sullivan
senior industry analyst Yong Lih Khoo.

"Operators are as such aggressively promoting attractive bundled
and discounted price plans, encouraging migration from narrowband,
introducing local content and innovative services such as IPTV, as
well as overall improving service levels and affordability," he adds.

The various government nationwide broadband master plan
initiatives, particularly in the more developed nations, are also
providing the impetus for the deployment of wider network
infrastructure and coverage, and the development of local broadband
content and applications, thus driving broadband uptake.

In terms of broadband access technology, Khoo believes that a wide
range of access technologies - FTTH (fibre-to-the-home), FTTN
(fibre-to-the-node), FTTB (fibre-to-the-building), DSL (digital
subscriber line), WiMAX and other wireless technologies - would
continue to co-exist depending on the strategic outlook of the
operators, existing infrastructure and price points in a given
country.

He says, "FTTx in its various forms - FTTH, FTTB, FTTN - would
play a significant role in the next three to four years due to its
potential of providing greater bandwidth to the premise, compared to
copper wires. Some countries like Hong Kong are already providing
speeds up to 1Gbps, while other countries like Singapore are following
suit.

"Deploying fibre as close to the home as possible enables
operators to be future-ready for the bandwidth explosion that new
services like multi-screen IPTV with recording and the concurrent high
speed Internet needs," Khoo adds.

"Although service providers are rolling-out FTTx, the
profitability of new services like IPTV remains questionable as these
deployments would typically have a long payback period," Khoo says,
adding that in a credit crunch environment, most operators are likely
to be cautious before deploying full-fledged FTTH although it is a
future-proof technology.

"Hence FTTN would still be a more preferred option for low- to
medium-density geographies like Australia and Malaysia," says Khoo.

In most of the developing markets however, Khoo believes that
basic DSL-based services would continue to drive the bulk of
deployments, but is expected to face some competition from the various
forms of wireless broadband technologies.

The Asia Pacific Broadband Access Technology and Market Comparison
study is part of the Communication Services Growth Partnership Service
program, which also includes research in the following markets: WAN
services, enterprise mobility, IPTV, user-generated content (UGC),
social networking, online and mobile content, telecom services,
managed and hosted services, and network transformation case studies.
All research services included in subscriptions provide detailed
market opportunities and industry trends that have been evaluated
following extensive interviews with market participants. Analyst
interviews are available to the press.

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, partners with
clients to accelerate their growth. The company's TEAM Research,
Growth Consulting and Growth Team Membership empower clients to create
a growth-focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements
effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of
experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging
businesses and the investment community from more than 30 offices on
six continents. For more information about Frost & Sullivan's Growth
Partnerships, visit http://www.frost.com.

Frost & Sullivan
Sarah Lourdes, +603.6207.1030
Corporate Communications - Asia Pacific
sarah.lourdes@frost.com

Copyright Business Wire 2008