Hong Kong – The perspective on IPTV’s future in Asia remains positive, but growth will be modest under the entrenched cable and satellite competition. So says Ovum Analyst Kevin Lee, describing IPTV in Asia Pacific as “still in its infancy, as compared with the booming development in Europe.” “As witnessed from its presence in eleven Asian countries, scales of IPTV roll-out remain relatively small. With the exception of Hong Kong being the most successful deployment to date, uptake is still insignificant in most markets although high broadband-penetrated markets shows more vibrant activities,” says Lee. He says the takeoff of IPTV is facing serious hurdles from cable TV dominance in Taiwan and Korea, and unfavorable regulatory frameworks like those in Korea and China. “In other places, the pay TV industries are heavily undermined by dominant free-to-air televisions, thus discouraging telcos’ investment in the new service. Moving forward, competition for premium content will further drive content acquisition costs up, making it more unrealistic and difficult for IPTV providers to operate solely with a broadcast model,” says the Hong Kong based analyst.