Market Trends

by Tom van der Heyden

The current global economic turmoil is having an effect on Asia, but a brief review of history shows that Asia will weather the storm better than other regions and will in fact benefit in several ways from this financial crisis--as well as have a faster rebound.

Due to a grim economic outlook and substantial currency fluctuations, the telecom services market will generate US$1.4 trillion in 2009, posting only 1% year-on-year growth compared with the 10-11% annual growth rates that have characterized previous years, according to a new report from Pyramid Research (www.pyr.com), the telecom research arm of Light Reading Communications Group (www.lightreading.com ). The global telecoms market is expected to recover in 2010 however, driven by a combination of factors such as the increased availability of multiplay bundles, versatile and competitively-priced devices, with emerging markets providing much-needed dynamism to the industry.

Given the sorry recent history of CEOs misrepresenting the health and future of their companies, it would be understandable if recent statements from individuals ranging from Romain Bausch of SES, Guiliano Beretta of Eutelsat and David McGlade of Intelsat, that their companies had yet to see any substantial impact from the major global economic downturn were to be taken with a grain of salt. Yet, NSR has recently completed its annual data collection effort of television channels and feeds carried on commercial satellites, and the actual results truly do support these assertions.

by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

Beginning with what seemed like another promising year for the satellite industry, 2008 saw the world’s economy go down in a spiralling downturn that brought us into the world’s worst recession since the Great Depression in 1933. They don’t have a name for this recession yet (remember the "Oil Crisis" of the 70s and the "Telecom and Dot.com Bust" of the late 90s/early 2000s). But then again we are just in the beginning of this one. No one can really foretell what lies ahead, but it will almost certainly get worse before it gets better.

610 government satellite planned for launch in the next decade

World government space program expenditures reached a historic high of more than $62 billion dollars in 2008, with planned satellite launches in the next ten years to increase 38% over the previous decade according to a report released in December 2008  by Euroconsult.

New NSR Report Projects More than 1,500 New Transponder Leases in Next Ten Years, and Revenues to Hit US$12.9 Billion

With many industries around the world in the doldrums due to the current economic crisis, NSR's latest multi-client market research report released December 3rd, 2008 entitled the Global Assessment of Satellite Demand, 5th Edition, projects that the commercial satellite transponder leasing market should emerge relatively unscathed. This new NSR report provides the industry's most complete examination of commercial satellite supply and demand in all regions and for each application over the next ten years.

Once considered the fertile crescent of Internet innovation, the United States now finds itself increasingly trailing the world in broadband, according to a report just released by Strategy Analytics. The report, “Sputnik Moment: The Call for a National Broadband Policy,?” suggests that only a coordinated and coherent national broadband plan will allow the US to regain its leadership role.

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré said  that worldwide mobile cellular subscribers are likely to reach the 4 billion mark before the end of this year.  Dr Touré was speaking at the high-level events on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in New York, where he also participated in UN Private Sector Forums addressing the global food crisis and the role of technological innovation in meeting the MDGs.

Worldwide IPTV Service Revenue Will Reach $19 Billion in 2012

Worldwide subscriptions to internet Protocol television (IPTV) services are on pace to reach 19.6 million subscribers in 2008, a 64.1 per cent increase from 12 million subscribers in 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide IPTV revenue is projected to total $4.5 billion in 2008, a 93.5 per cent increase from 2007 revenue of $2.3 billion.