Carrier go-to-market strategies and initial success with subscriber levels will vary significantly between countries, depending on the level of telecoms competition in a market, forcing carriers to act and the strength of the incumbent Pay TV competition that carriers face.

France is currently way ahead of other markets in terms of IPTV adoption. Gartner predicts that, by the end of 2006, almost half of Western Europe's IPTV subscribers will be based in France -- a total of 1.7 million subscribers, generating revenues of '141 million.

By 2010, Gartner expects that the number of subscribers in France will reach nearly five million, just under one third of all IPTV subscribers in Western Europe, and generating '682 million in total revenue. Gartner attributes IPTV's success in France to an aggressive (low entry price) push from competitive players, including Free and Neuf, as well as France Telecom, combined with the fact that all the major Pay TV services are willing to embrace new distribution channels.