Going digital at home is big business

Consumers spend USD 1,200 billion annually on digital technologies for the home. For operators the market offers real opportunities for growth by providing media, communications and safety/automation services.

Greater connectivity is spurring a new era of digital services for the home. The possibilities are almost endless,ranging from IPTV to home healthcare to remotely controlling household heating and lighting.

"More than 40% of mobile traffic, well over 50% of fixed voice traffic, and 95% of broadband access traffic are now generated in the home," says Oscar Salonaho, Head of Business Development for Home Solutions at Nokia Siemens Networks. The impact of home-based activities is only going to increase, with 103 million out of 132 million households in North America having broadband connections and 54 million having home networks by 2011, according to analysis by Nokia and Jupiter Research.


The promise of greater connectivity

When it comes to fixed and mobile voice services, volumes are rising but revenues are not, due mainly to price pressure, competition and churn. So operators are searching for further business opportunities.

Extending broadband is one, as is media, which is taking another big slice of consumer spending. Futuresystems that can connect digital devices together based on a universal connectivity and communications standard, will allow people to record a family party on their digital video camera, for example, send it wirelessly to their computer for storage and then send it by e-mail to their friends or upload it to their personal website.

"With full connectivity you can take your digitized home in your pocket wherever you go and connect with your home whenever you need to," says Salonaho.

One sector of the market showing particular promise is that of safety and automation. Although the market is small in global terms, there are real opportunities, such as personal CCTV (Closed Circuit Television ) to give householders extra security when they are out. On the automation side, saving on energy consumption is a clear trend, enabling people to control their homes remotely, such as turning air conditioning and lights on and off.

"The home offers huge potential," concludes Salonaho. "The next step is to turn that potential into exciting new services and business success."