Fixed broadband in Asia still dominated by the North Asia players as the other markets try hard to close the 'digital gap. 'The energetic expansion of broadband was for a long time a phenomenon limited to the developed economies, with narrowband dial-up access being the norm in the majority of the poorer developing countries of the region, according to a new report entitled "Asia Fixed Broadband and Internet Market Forecasts. "

Global pay-TV market added nearly 47 million subscribers in 2012 reaching a total of 864 million subscribers. “The growth in satellite, cable, and IPTV markets was strong, although digital terrestrial TV growth was flat in 2012. ABI Research expects that the pay-TV market will continue to grow in 2013 to reach 907 million subscribers,” said Jake Saunders, VP and practice director of core forecasting.

Informa Telecoms and Media forecasts that the OTT video market will be worth over US$37 billion in 2017. However, advertising will still be a larger revenue-generator than subscriptions in the OTT-video market in 2017, highlighting its continued immaturity. Although US$37 billion is an eye-catching number, OTT remains a small proportion of total TV and video revenues.

A new report, entitled “Privatization Levels in Arab Cellular Markets” was released by the Arab Advisors Group analyzing the ownership structure and revenues of all cellular operators in fifteen Arab countries. The analysis aimed at examining the "actual" level of privatization and state ownership in each country measured by the proportionate share of each operator of total cellular market revenues. The analysis revealed that the Palestinian, Syrian and Kuwaiti cellular markets are the most privatized markets.

CASBAA and international media and technology law firm Olswang today launched Singapore's first online directory of digital content available from legitimate sources. The pilot directory is available to all at finddigitaltv.com and allows users to search for content by genre, device or just search for content that is free.

According to the latest forecasts from Informa Telecoms & Media, the global online-video market will be worth US$37 billion in 2017, driven by the popularity of services like Netflix and YouTube. This figure is made up of the three key video-revenue streams of advertising, subscriptions and transactions. Despite the market maturing, advertising will continue to be a larger revenue generator than subscriptions in 2017, as it is in 2012.

The latest Ericsson Mobility Report, formerly known as the Ericsson Traffic and Market Report, reveals that approximately 40 percent of all phones sold in Q3 were smartphones. Data traffic doubled between Q3 2011 and Q3 2012, and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of around 50 percent between 2012 and 2018, driven mainly by video.

Euroconsult’s newly released research report, Satellites to be Built & Launched by 2021: World Market Survey, anticipates that 1,075 satellites will be built for launch worldwide over the next 10 years (2012-2021). Revenues from the manufacture and launch of these 1,000+ satellites will be worth US$ 198 billion, up 36% from that generated by the 800 satellites launched in the past ten years.

As of the end of the first quarter 2012,  mobile operators in nineteen Arab countries had 367.5 million cellular lines, up from 362 million at yearend 2011, a growth of 1.5%, according to new report from Arab Advisors Group which analyzes and ranks cellular operators in the Arab World. The three cellular operators in Egypt; Vodafone, Mobinil and Etisalat were the largest Arab cellular operators in terms of subscriptions by end of March 2012.

CASBAA has released its annual estimate of Asia Pacific Multichannel TV homes, reinforcing the overall healthy state of the market. “Now with 446 million multichannel homes and a 57% penetration of all TV homes, the Asia Pacific remains a global engine room for the multichannel TV sector. Even as the rest of the world worries about overall economic indicators, the Asia pay-TV market remains in robust health,” said Simon Twiston Davies, CEO, CASBAA.

What the data also says: