Insight into the North American Wholesale Private Line Services Market

Business Wire, July 25, 2007

DUBLIN, Ireland -- Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c63664) has announced the addition of "North American Wholesale Private Line Services Markets" to their offering.

The Frost & Sullivan research service titled North American Wholesale Private Line Services Markets provides insight into the market for long haul and local access private line services as part of the wholesale markets. In this research, Frost & Sullivan's expert analysts thoroughly examine the markets for wholesale carrier long haul private line services and local access private line services.

Dependability, Security, and Reliability Ensure Adoption

The North American wholesale private line market continues to witness steady growth, disproving many predictions of the impending demise of private lines. Dependability, security, and reliability are the hallmarks of these secured point-to-point connectivity solutions, and although there are a number of competing alternate services, such as Gigabit Ethernet and next-generation optical wavelength, no other wholesale data product generates the same amount of demand and revenues that private line sales generate. These innate characteristics ensure the continued adoption of private lines, helping the market grow further into the foreseeable future.

However, price erosion continues to be a major concern for participants in the North American wholesale private line market. The market has witnessed a drop in bandwidth prices of approximately 30 percent in the last few years and of particular concern is the disruptive pricing being adopted by short term players. "Small carriers continue to dump high bandwidth in the market at substantially lower prices to gain market share," notes the analyst of this research service. "With increasing consolidation in the private line industry, these players are trying to maximize their market shares with the intent of being acquired by a larger private line carrier at a substantial price." The decrease in private line equipment costs is further making it easier for short term players to slash prices.

Booming Wireless Segment Promises Higher Growth Levels

The flourishing U.S. wireless data market is expected to be the primary driver for the future growth of the U.S. wholesale private line market. In 2006, wireless data revenues increased by approximately 84 percent over 2005, and with the increasing traction of triple play in the market, the wireless data segment is bound to grow further and spur on the wholesale wireline market as well. Moreover, the average revenue per user (ARPU) increased rapidly at the rate of 46 percent in 2006, and due to this the wireless carriers are demanding exceptional amounts of private line bandwidth to meet their customers' ever increasing data needs. Some of the largest customers for many wholesale private line service providers are wireless carriers, contributing to as much as 20 to 30 percent of revenues.

The long haul segment of the market will continue to grow at a steady rate as carriers with vast legacy equipment implementations will continue to drive the demand for long haul private lines. Similar to the long haul market, the local private line market is also expected to grow at a slow and steady rate. However, the local private line market is much larger than the long haul market and cannot be overlooked by private line carriers due to its sheer size. "Going forward, Frost & Sullivan believes that market growth will largely emanate from the growth in the wireless segment and the increased usage of bandwidth intensive applications by service providers who purchase wholesale private lines," says the analyst. "At the same time, it is also expected that some revenues will be channelled away from private lines towards alternate technologies such as wavelength services and Gigabit Ethernet services."

Areas covered:

* Market Overview

* Market Variables

* Revenue Forecasts

* Market Analysis

* Competitive Structure

* Market Share Analysis

* Strategic Recommendations

For more information visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/c63664