Broadband Access, Video and Mobility Drive Consumer Market

The residential services market is in rapid transition, Infonetics Research says. The decline of traditional fixed-line voice service and the rise of broadband access, video, and mobile data is speeding up.

PC-based mobile broadband subscribers will surpass all other types of Internet access subscribers by 2013. If telecom operators aren't able to provide competitive mobile services, they will be at a significant disadvantage.

Now that residential voice and Internet services are no longer tied to a physical household, operators can (and should) customize services for individual members of a household and compete on a nationwide basis versus a specific fixed territory,” advises Diane Myers, directing analyst.

The residential services market in North America, which comprises voice, video, and Internet access services, held steady during the economic downturn, maintaining $240 billion in 2009.

Service provider revenue from voice services (including VoIP and mobile voice) decreased five percent in 2009, while broadband access revenue increased five percent and video service revenue increased six percent.

Infonetics Research forecasts the North American residential voice, video and Internet access services market to grow to $271 billion by 2014.

Broadband access is the true growth engine for residential services, with annual revenue for North American service providers expected to grow at a 13 percent compound annual growth rate from 2009 to 2014, driven by both fixed and mobile broadband solutions.

In 2009, 70 percent of all North American voice subscribers were mobile; by 2014, that number will grow as an increasing number of consumers go mobile-only.