The worldwide Set-top Box (STB) market fell 10 percent sequentially during the third quarter of this year to $2.6 billion, according to new figures from Dell’Oro Group. During the third quarter, vendors like Motorola and Cisco, who both have a high degree of exposure to the North American market, saw large contractions in IP STB unit shipments due to the decline in net subscriber additions. In China, Huawei continued its strong growth putting more pressure on ZTE and UTStarcom. ZTE however, retained its grip on being the third largest vendor in the worldwide IP STB market.
“The global economic recession, with its shrinking incomes, high unemployment, and tight credit market, has resulted in significantly less home construction and fewer residential home moves, causing pay-TV operators to struggle to gain gross subscriber additions,” said Greg Collins, Vice President at Dell’Oro Group. “Consumers, now faced with less disposable income, are more apt to choose less expensive, lower-tier services, thus boosting the low-end set-top box market,” Collins added.
