Market Corner (1) - 14/06/08

A few set of market information released this week:

• According to In-Stat, revenues from consumer telecom network services will grow at a steady CAGR of about 5.7%, over the next five years, and reach $2tr by 2012. But the digital divide will continue to grow: broadband penetration would reach 85% in developed countries vs less than 10% in developing countries. Over the next five years, 150m PSTN lines will be eliminated, but voice revenues worldwide would remain steady. The number of VoIP subscribers will more than double in the next four years, and broadband revenue will be getting close to fixed voice service revenue by 2012.

• According to ABI, 1Q08 mobile device shipment would have reached 289m units, up almost 14%.

• Carl Icahn continues: he wants to oust Yahoo' s board and its CEO Jerry Yang, for missing Microsoft' s offer opportunity. Simultaneously, he estimates that Yahoo is worth $47bn (+$5bn more than Microsoft offer) and asked Microsoft to decide to buy. In the meantime, Yahoo ended talks once and for all with Microsoft. The Yahoo share dived 10% on news.

• According to MultiMedia Intelligence, the market for in-flight broadband services is poised to grow to $936m in 2012.

• In-Stat found that worldwide 3G mobile TV subscribers are forecast to reach 42m in 2012, from 6m in 2007.

• Gartner found that the sales of smartphones in NA doubled in 1Q08 to 7.3m units (+106%), of which RIM sold over 42%. Worldwide smartphone sales were 32.2m, up 29%, with Nokia as the leader with about 47%.

• The in-flight broadband services market is poised to grow to $1bn in 2012, according to MultiMedia Intelligence.