More than 13 million households worldwide subscribed to IPTV service at the end of 2007, a number expected to grow to 65 million by 2012, according to a report from IMS Research.
The 52% annual growth rate is expected to drive shipments of standalone IPTV set-top boxes from 4.7 million units in 2006 to 21 million in 2012, the firm said.
IMS projected that hybrid IP set-tops (combining Internet Protocol features with traditional TV delivery technologies) will also grow, from less than 5 million in 2006 to 39 million in 2012.
Prices of IPTV set-tops will "continue to fall as increased integration of multiple codecs into a single chip helps to reduce manufacturing costs over time," IMS said in its report.
