LATSAT 2015 Highlight Opportunities, Increased Competition in the Latin American Satellite Market

by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

Mexico City, Mexico, June 1, 2015--The second annual Latin American Satellite Communication and Broadcasting Summit (LATSAT) organized by Euroconsult in Mexico City,  like the Latin American satellite market, continues to grow into one of the    premier industry events in the region. Held at the Sheraton Maria Isabel Hotel from  May 20-21, 2015, over 200 executives from all over the Americas attended the event.

As in the first event held last year, LATSAT was supported by the Secretaría de Comunicaciones y Transportes (SCT), Mexico’s Ministry of Communication and Transport. The event was also supported by almost all the major satellite operators and service providers in the region including, Eutelsat, Intelsat, SES,  Hispasat , ABS among others. 

Representatives of leading satellite operators present their views on the Latin American market in the panel moderated by Pacome Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult (on extreme left).  Panelist include from the left of Revillon:  Ignacio Gonzalez-Nunez, VP-Business Development, Eutelsat Americas; Carmen Gonzalez-Sanfeliu, Regional VP-Latin America and Caribbean, Intelsat; Julio Villafane, VP-Sales, Latin America, SES; Igancio Sanchis, Chief Commercial Officer of Hispasat; and Fabio Alencar, Business Development Director of Star One.

The timing of the event may not be propitious for the Mexican Ministry of Communications, as the event was held a week after the failed launch of their MEXSAT-1 satellite.  However, the Mexican government represented by the keynote speaker Monica Aspe, undersecretary of the SCT downplayed the impact of the failed launch of the satellite as provisions were made for the services on the failed satellite to be taken up by the upcoming Morelos-3 satellite, to be launched in October 2015.   It also helps that MEXSAT-1 was fully insured for both the manufacturing and launch costs.  So, despite the setback, the mood during the conference was generally upbeat, buoyed by the  promising growth and the new opportunities in the Latin American satellite market.

Pacome Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult, started off the first day with a comprehensive presentation on the prospects and trends in the Latin American satellite market.   He said that the Latin American region is the fastest growing market in the world and will continue to grow in the next few years.   He said that satellite capacity in Latin America will double by 2017, while High Througput capacity will increase eightfold to over 370 Gbps by 2017.

One of the highlights of the conference was the keynote speech on the second day by Mexican-American astronaut, Jose M. Hernandez, who flew on several Space Shuttle missions.  In his brief presentation, Hernandez provided an overview of the future of satellite technology, where he envisioned satellites to continue to innovate and become “smaller, faster, more capable and cheaper.”

Speakers in various sessions highlighted the growing demand in Latin America for satellite services fueled by the need for broadband access, e-government applications and  vertical markets such as oil and gas, maritime and aeronautical services. The growing market has also increased competition among satellite operators and service providers with many new players coming into the market.

Representatives of leading satellite operators presented their views on the Latin American market in the panel moderated by Pacome Revillon, CEO of Euroconsult. Panelist include from the left of Revillon:  Ignacio Gonzalez-Nunez, VP-Business Development, Eutelsat Americas; Carmen Gonzalez-Sanfeliu, Regional VP-Latin America and Caribbean, Intelsat; Julio Villafane, VP-Sales, Latin America, SES; Igancio Sanchis, Chief Commercial Officer of Hispasat; and Fabio Alencar, Business Development Director of Star One.   One of the issues discussed during the panel was the probability of capacity oversupply   with so many operators and more coming in the region.  The consensus among the panelists was that there is sufficient demand to sustain the market.   

Erwin Mercado, Vice-President of Sales for Latin America of ABS, one of the newest operators in the region, said that competition is good for the region, especially for the customers who will have more choices. 

The two-day conference covered a wide variety of issues with session on “VSAT Services and Solutions,” Universal Access Programs,”  “Satellite Manufacturing,” and “Telecom Operations: 2G, 3G and 4G,”  among others.  From the discussions, the key takeaways from the conference is that satellite technology will continue to play an vital role in the region and that broadband access, universal service provision and Pay TV services  and will be driving demand in the years to come.  

View viideo interviews with key industry executives from the Latin American Satellite Communications and Broadcasting Summit  (LATSAT) 2015 in Mexico City organized by Euroconsult, including: Dolores Martos, MD-Americas and Erwin Mercado, VP-Sales-Latin America of ABS; Ignacio Sanchis, Chief Commercial Officer-HISPASAT; Omar Trujillo, VP-Sales, Latin America and Africa-O3B Networks;  and Julio Villafañe,  VP-Commercial, Latin America-North of SES. To view the videos click here.

Virgil Labrador is the Editor-in-Chief of Satellite Market and Research based in Los Angeles, California. He is the author of two books on the satellite industry and has been covering the  industry for various publications since 1998.  Before that he worked in various  capacities in the industry, including a stint as marketing director for the Asia Broadcast Center, a full-service teleport based in Singapore. He can be reached at virgil@satellitemarkets.com