Campbell, California – Sales of mobile video phones hit close to US$58 billion worldwide in 2006 and are forecast to more than double to nearly $125 billion by 2010, according to Infonetics Research. The number of mobile video subscribers is forecast to jump from a few million in 2006 to 58.6 million in 2010, driven by increasingly powerful and efficient phones and analogue broadcast signal switch-offs. Asia Pacific accounted for 53% of mobile video subscribers worldwide in 2006, followed by Europe/Middle East/Africa at 27%, North America at 13%, and Central and Latin America at 6%. Worldwide, DVB-H subscribers are projected to grow to 11.7 million by 2010, while FLO subscribers are forecast to reach 6 million. “Despite some concerns around the business plan and subscriber take rates, major service providers continue to move forward with their mobile video network rollouts. They’re taking advantage of spectrum availability, thanks to the switch-off of analogue TV broadcasting networks, and the pressure to get services rolled out before next year’s Summer Olympics in Beijing and the European Soccer Championship,” says Jeff Heynen, Infonetics broadband and IPTV analyst. “In addition, governments are very quickly lining up behind various mobile video technologies to help facilitate deployments, with the EU’s endorsement of DVB-H and the Chinese government’s sponsorship of CMMB being the two most visible efforts,” he added.