MUMBAI: China supplied 35 per cent of the worldwide digital set-top box market (including the Chinese market) in 2004, and more than 50 per cent of all worldwide digital set-top boxes are forecast to be produced in China by 2010.

This data is contained in a new report from IMS Research called The Chinese Market for Digital Set-Top Boxes.

This study reveals that China produced more than 17 million digital set-top boxes in 2004, which accounted for around 35% of the total worldwide market (including China). This figure has already made China the largest digital set-top box production base in the world. The production volume of digital set-top boxes in China is forecast to grow at a 21 per cent CAGR over the next five years to reach 56 million units in 2010. This means that over 56 per cent of the worldwide digital set-top box supply in 2010 is envisioned to come from China.

IMS Research's Ann Yi-Yen Bird said, "In 2004, more than 50 per cent of the digital set-top boxes produced in China were destined for export markets. Despite high growth predicted for the domestic digital set-top box market, the proportion of total Chinese production output for export markets is forecast to maintain at above 50 per cent over the next five years. Currently, the majority of digital STBs produced in China are basic satellite boxes. As deployments of digital cable TV, digital terrestrial TV and IPTV in both China and the rest of the world intensify, the proportions of digital cable, digital terrestrial and IP set-top boxes within total Chinese digital STB production are expected to increase over the next five years."

IMS envisions that the number of digital satellite TV households in China will continue to grow over the next five years and will reach 60 million by the end of 2010, provided that the Chinese government launches its Direct-To-Home satellites on time and the grey market continues to be tolerated.