Mobile broadband over smartphones and tablets has become the fastest growing segment of the global ICT market, according to ITU’s flagship annual report Measuring the Information Society 2013. New figures released today show buoyant global demand for information and communication technology (ICT) products and services, steadily declining prices for both cellular and broadband services, and unprecedented growth in 3G uptake.

By end 2013 there will be 6.8 billion total mobile-cellular subscriptions – almost as many as there are people on the planet.

New research and analysis by the Arab Advisors Group reveals that as of August 2013 the four satellite Pay TV operators, broadcasting from the region, offered a combined total of 151 channels. OSN is the leader in terms of the number of offered channels.  

Four satellite Pay TV providers broadcast from the Arab World. Namely: Orbit Showtime Network (OSN), Al Jazeera Sports+, Abu Dhabi Sports and Al Majd. Expectedly, Al Jazeera Sports+ offers the highest number of sports Pay TV channels with 20 sports channels.

A new report "Network Traffic Forecast and Analysis – 2013-2017" from Information Gatekeepers provides the reader with a forecast for North American Network Traffic for the next several years, but perhaps more importantly, it will also explore the industry and consumer patterns that are driving that traffic. 

NSR’s Global Satellite-Based Earth Observation (EO), 5th Edition report, released today, projects satellite-based EO revenues from Data, Processing and Information Products will reach $6 billion in the coming ten years, up from $2.2 billion in 2012. Facing a difficult public sector budgetary climate, the EO industry is now shifting its roots from Government & Military customers to blooming Commercial verticals, with the latter representing more than 50% of the market in 2022.

In August 2013, the Arab Advisors Group examined 658 fully operational FTA satellite TV channels targeting the Arab World to research their online presence. Of the analyzed stations, 68% (448 channels) have an online presence.

Pay-TV operators have been moving an increasing amount of their content online through TV Everywhere or multiscreen services, as well as seeing an increasing amount of Internet streaming via OTT services like Netflix and Hulu. As a result, cable, IPTV and satellite operators are seeing an increased need to manage what’s happening in their networks, and how to deliver premium video more cost effectively and with higher quality.  Enter content delivery networks, or CDNs.

Consumer uptake of 3D hardware continues apace, with the market on track to achieve 157.7 million 3DTV sales in 2017, up from a forecast of 59.3 million for 2013, according to a new report from Futuresource Consulting.

The global telecoms industry’s revenues will remain roughly flat over the next few years, with a decline in spending on voice services counterbalanced by growth in spending on mobile and fixed (broadband) data services, according to global analyst firm Ovum.

In a recent market forecast analysis report*, it was found that as growth slows, market realities mean telcos must find ways to serve their existing customers profitability rather than simply growing their customer bases.

NSR’s 10th edition of the Government and Military Satellite Communications (GMSC-10) report, published today, projects the industry will generate US $5 billion in revenue growth by 2022 primarily from rising transponder and bandwidth demand of UAVs and airborne manned missions. The positive impact of HTS and MEO-HTS services for mobility applications (maritime, aeronautical and land-mobile) as well as comms-on-the-pause, fixed VSATs and bulk leasing, will also play important roles in the market growth.