Rapid price drops have boosted sales of large-sized LCD-TVs, prompting market researcher iSuppli to increase its forecast for panel shipments this year.

iSuppli on Tuesday raised its forecast by 3% to 75.2 million LCD-TVs, which is 42.7% higher than the 52.7 million units sold last year. The research firm in the fourth quarter of last year had predicted shipments of 72.9 million units for 2007.

While the growth is impressive, it marks a slowdown compared to 2006, when shipments soared 95.8 % from 2005. Nevertheless, iSuppli expects shipments of LCD-TVs to exceed 100 million units in 2008, and reach 171.6 million unites by 2011.

"By that time, LCD-TVs will dominate the market accounting for 65 percent of all television unit shipments worldwide," Sweta Dash, director of LCD and projection research at iSuppli, said in a statement.

Driving the growth this year are declining prices for large-sized LCD panels, iSuppli said. For example, the price of a 32-inch LCD-TV is expected to drop 17 percent in the first half of the year, compared to the fourth quarter of last year.

In addition to price drops, consumers may also be motivated by a U.S. mandate to phase out analog televisions in favor of digital technologies by the year 2009.