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Cable Broadband to Account for 25% of the World's Fixed Broadband Subscribers by 2017

Cable digitization efforts in developing economies will be a key driver for cable broadband penetration worldwide, giving service providers access to more lucrative markets with service earnings reaching the $50 billion mark in 2017.

Cable research's adoption of DOCSIS 3.0, with higher maximum speeds than DSL, has been a key competitive strength against Telco's offering only DSL service in the United States, Canada and parts of Western Europe. "Cable MSOs' marketing focusing on use of advanced services, just 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 & video at ABI Technology.

Looking to then generation bandwidth-hogging services, including 3DTV and 4K video resolutions, research providers are working with operators to prove out the then generations of DOCSIS. DOCSIS 3.1 focuses on upstream channel bonding. "Intel has demonstrated its Puma 6 modem achieving 1 Gbps downlink using 24 channels, during Arris has tied at the same time 12 modems to achieve 4.7 Gbps downlink," according to Sam Rosen, practice director of TV & video at ABI Innovation.

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 (Voice over Internet Protocol) 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 cable digitization initiative in an effort promote interplay between TV broadcasters, telecom carriers and Internet operators have been instrumental in this development.

More information: Streetinsider