[Satellite News 01-31-11] Vision IPTV is launching a commercial and technical hub in Dubai, which CEO John Mills hopes will support customer expansion throughout the Middle East, West Asia and Africa regions.
    Mills said Vision IPTV’s regional expansion in the MENA region follows the recent $16.1 million Chinese investment deal with Vision IPTV’s London-based sister company, Soho Data Holdings. “Our partners see considerable potential in the region to extend our reach, build new audiences and offer quality broadcasters in the region a global distribution solution that they can monetize fast – all without large capital outlay,” Mills told Satellite News.
Vision IPTV said it chose the United Arab Emirates because its highly competitive broadband and broadcast market represents a geographically strategic location for its IPTV broadcast and data distribution. The MENA region, which has traditionally been a strong international market for U.S. media, also is attracting the attention of Russian and Chinese business organizations seeking to expand influence and invest in the region.
    Mills said that the new attention is why Vision IPTV is seeking partners in the Middle East and North Africa. “The global spread of citizens from the region and the influence they hold is of strategic and commercial value for all national and commercial MENA broadcasters. We intend to offer them the same far reaching solutions that our clients, including Russia Today, use to reach a larger audience, in homes, hotels and businesses across the world,” he said. “We will be inviting broadcasters, telecommunications operators and other partners to meet with us to discuss commercial and investment opportunities throughout the region.”
    In a report released Feb. 1 Analyst firm Engalco said that the MENA region is helping the satellite broadband market generate an unstoppable momentum. “Regions such as Sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, North Africa and Asia will help drive global shipments of ground-based, consumer transceivers to 2 billion units in 2019. The total available global markets added to nearly $1.4 billion in 2010 and will increase at an average annual rate of 9.6 percent to reach almost $3.2 billion in 2019,” the report said.
    However, Engalco notes that substantial regional variations in terms of both absolute values and monetary growth rates. “Annual growth rates are highest for regions such as China and Northeast Asia – often exceeding 20 percent – while some of the smaller regions see a slow decline in market values principally due to price erosion over the years … Most OEMs are located in Europe and North America but a shift towards more Asian production is already detectable,” the report said.