Everything besides plain
vanilla Internet access, such as IP telephony, online gaming and IPTV,
is known as broadband value-added services (BVAS). That acronym has the
full attention of broadband marketers, as they look beyond commoditized
high-speed Internet access to more profitable premium services. Point Topic estimates that BVAS generated revenues totaling $37 billion worldwide in 2006.

In percentage terms, business BVAS is contributing a higher proportion to total broadband revenues than consumer BVAS.

In business BVAS, security services, IP-VPNs, software-on-demand
services and VoIP were the four leading revenue-earners. For example,
Point Topic estimates that additional revenue from security services
exceeded $9 billion at the end of 2006.

The market for consumer BVAS has grown even more impressively than
the business sector. In value terms, the top five contributing services
in 2006 were, security, IP telephony, gaming online, home networks and
music. Point Topic’s most recent estimates show that IP Telephony,
defined as full-service phone-over-broadband offerings, has now topped
security to be the value-added service that generates the greatest
revenue.

Double play, (voice and Internet) and triple-play (voice, TV and
Internet) offers are now the norm for most broadband access providers
worldwide. Among BVAS, IP telephony and IPTV services are generating
the greatest monthly average revenue per user (ARPU) at $14.34 and
$17.49, respectively. The ARPU for these services is falling, however,
suggesting that increased competition is driving prices down.

Via eMarketer