Thursday August 24, 2006

In a report entitled "Mobile Video Devices, Services and Subscribers", analyst firm Infonetics Research projects that revenue from mobile video services will soar from US$46.2 million in 2005 to US$5.6 billion by 2009, representing a staggering increase of 12,000 percent over a five-year period. If mobile video providers are able to resolve a number of quality- and content-related issues...

Mobile operators are expanding the bandwidth of their existing 3G networks through HSDPA and MBMS, rolling out dedicated, RF-based broadcast networks, and deploying new mobile video service delivery platforms (SDPs), all steps that pave the way to offer the same content as we see on regular satellite, digital, or cable TV at home.

Infonetics’ report indicates that sports will serve as a major content anchor for most mobile video service providers, as exclusive coverage will help drive advertising revenue, subscriber growth, and support for other prime time programming. In the US, Sprint/Nextel has a 5-year $600 million deal with the National Football League (NFL) to deliver highlights from the week's games and real-time updates of scores and player statistics. And in South Korea, Japan, and throughout Europe, mobile video operators who streamed and broadcast the 2006 World Cup games and highlights saw a huge spike in mobile video subscriptions. Infonetics says we can expect more of the same in the future.

Please find in following the main findings of this report:

1. The number of worldwide mobile video subscribers will jump 8,006% between 2005 and 2009
   
2. Asia Pacific leads with roughly half of the world’s mobile video subscribers and the largest portion of mobile video service revenue, every year from 2005 to 2009
   
3. The number of mobile video handsets sold worldwide is expected to grow from 28 million in 2005 to 336 million in 2009