Service providers globally are making major investments to converge their service networks onto data platforms, and, in particular, are investing to offer broadband Internet, metro Ethernet and IP-VPN services, according to the latest Infonetics Research survey. The survey also showed major differences between North American carriers and those in Europe and Asia Pacific.

Cellular base station backhaul has become a particularly hot market segment, as mobile service providers expand their networks to offer high-speed data and 73% of providers build their own transport networks to handle the network connections, the research showed.

Infonetics surveyed 29 carriers in three regions – North America, Europe and Asia Pacific – and included incumbents, competitive operators and ISPs. Overall, the report, “Service Provider Plans for IP, MPLS, and ATM: North America, Europe, and Asia Pacific,” showed heavy investment to support new services.

“IPTV and broadcast video, which loom large in many carriers' plans, will create a huge increase in traffic when it becomes prevalent,” said Michael Howard, principal analyst at Infonetics Research, in a prepared statement. “Carriers expect decreases in legacy service revenue (ATM, frame relay, leased lines), but expect big increases from IP VPN, VoIP, and metro Ethernet revenue, and those planning broadband and IPTV expect sizeable revenue increases from those services as well.”

The survey showed that the number of carriers deploying new MPLS-based metro Ethernet equipment doubles between 2005 and 2006, from 42 percent to 84 percent. IP/Ethernet DSLAMs are being widely deployed outside North America – 100 percent of European carriers and 60 percent of Asia Pacific carriers plans to deploy this gear – but less than half (44 percent) of North American broadband carriers are doing so.

The growing push toward IP VPNs is helping fuel expansion of interprovider Q0S, as more than half of service providers will deliver this in 2006, primarily to deliver IP VPNs.

Another stark difference between North American and other carriers is their view of new services. Two-thirds of Asia Pacific carriers and more than half of European carriers said creating new services is considered a challenge, but only 14 percent of North American carriers agreed.