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Networked Broadband Households to Top 160 Million & Network-Connected Devices to Approach 1 Billion by 2010 (27/5/2005)

The Diffusion Group Predicts Global Home Network Adoption to Triple in the Next Five Years

According to new research from The Diffusion Group, a leading digital home research consultancy, global home network adoption is expected to grow from 35 million in 2004 to more than 162 million in 2010. This growth will be fueled in large part by broadband service providers who are beginning to push combined modem/networking solutions known as residential gateways (RGWs) into the homes of new broadband subscribers.

TDG also forecasts that the number of network-connected devices will grow from 108 million in 2004 to just under 1 billion by 2010, growing from an average of approximately three networked devices per household in 2004 to approximately six devices by 2010. "While global broadband adoption continues to grow at a rapid pace, home network adoption has been held back due to a combination of poor consumer familiarity with the technology and a lack of technology push on the part of vendors, governments, and service providers," said Michael Greeson, co-founder and President of The Diffusion Group.

Despite the relatively tepid pace of global network adoption, home network penetration is nonetheless expected to reach millions of homes in Asia, Europe, and North America via service provider "push" strategies. As Greeson noted, "Broadband service providers are now looking 'beyond the modem' for new sources of revenue, and home networks are a key part of their strategy to dominate emerging digital home control points and thus locking revenue and profits. This especially holds true for select European and Asian consumer broadband markets."

Such push strategies will help drive significant network penetration in a number of countries, a few of which are listed below.

TDG's latest report, Control Points and Profit Distribution in the Networked Digital Home, examines the evolution of the digital home market in US, offering a case study of how service provider home network strategies are likely to award them a significant share of the $90 billion digital home revenue pool.

www.tdgresearch.com