Market 24-01-05 N48

A few set of market information released this week:

[                  According to Gartner, IT spending could increase 2.5% in 2005, the highest growth since 2001.

[                  TDG Research forecast worldwide IPTV subscribers will pass the 20m mark, and will generate revenues of $ 17bn by 2010.

[                  According to IMS, global mobile handsets shipped will reach 650m in 2005, from 500m in 2003.

[                  Samsung expects mobile handset shipments 1Q05 to rise at least 10% from 4Q04’s 21m units.

[                  According to French telecoms regulator, ART, France has 1.6m unbundled telephone lines and 6.1m broadband internet access lines.

[                  According to Senza Fili Consulting, the worldwide demand for Wi-Fi and cellular converged services will reach 55 m subscribers by 2010, of which about half only in the US.

[                  Analysts now forecast China will release 3G licenses in 4Q05.

[                  China production of mobile phones grew 66% in 2004 to reach 230m units, of which 60% are exported.

[                  Huawei, Motorola and Ericsson have been short listed by CAT (Thailand) to build its mobile network (worth $ 330m). Huawei, which is believed to quote lowest price and should have the highest score in the technical qualification round, could be the winner.

[                  France’s Industry Minister forecast 600k TV over DSL by year-end. 

[                  According to IDC, the PC market grew 14.7% in 2004 with the shipment of 177.5m units. The growth, however, should slow in coming years with a rate of 5-6%. Gartner announced different numbers: 188m units shipped with a growth of 12%.

[                  IDC announced that the worldwide number of public hotspots will grow 41% to reach 250,000 by 2008.

[                  According to Forrester, Western Europe residential broadband access could reach 72m households (41% penetration) by 2010.

CDG (CDMA Development Group) announced it added 31 CDMA2000 networks and 60m subscribers in 2004. More than 100 CDMA2000 carriers in 53 countries were providing service to 145m users, and nine 1x EV-DO networks were deployed around the world.

Toshiba has unveiled the first software supporting remote operation of a personal computer from a mobile phone. The software, Ubiquitous Viewer, is a breakthrough software innovation that bridges the gap between mobile phones and PCs.

China to relax telecoms fees control. Operators will benefit from the relaxation of the regulations governing telecoms fees in China over the coming year.