Oil & Gas Communications Brazil 2012: ‘21st Century Digital Oilfield & Gasfield Imperatives Onshore, Offshore, and in Deepwater’ (O&GC Brazil 2012) brings the GVF & EMP Oil & Gas Communications Series to its 14th international event on 25th & 26th April in Rio de Janeiro.

The Latin American satellite market continues to grow in terms of applications such as Direct-to-Home (DTH), HDTV, Cellular Backhaul & Trunking,  and government programs aimed at bridging the Digital Divide.  International satellite operators such as SES and Intelsat are forced to review their strategy and are bringing more capacity to serve the region in the next 5 years to be better positioned for relevant growth in transponder capacity and to be able to meet the growing demands of the market.

There are those still working today who can remember where there was no competition in the satellite business, when it was completely dominated by treaty organizations or state-owned companies beholden to national governments and bound by monopoly regulations.  There are still wide swathes of the planet where monopoly conditions rule but the international market now contains a multitude of companies large and small, operating in space and on the ground, who compete fiercely for government, media, telecommunications, maritime and other business. 

Satellite operator Intelsat S.A. reported revenue of US $652.9 million and a net loss of $3.5 million for the three months ended December 31, 2011. The company also reported Intelsat S.A. EBITDAi, or earnings before net interest, loss on early extinguishment of debt, taxes and depreciation and amortization, of $495.5 million, and Intelsat S.A. Adjusted EBITDAi of $514.6 million, or 79 percent of revenue, for the three months ended December 31, 2011.

Several satellite industry assications repeated  its grave concerns over the proposed UNIDROIT Space Assets Protocol.

The most recent GVF-EMP Conference Partnership event in its Broadband Maritime Series, which for the first time co-located with an InterManager regional conference in its Shipping KPI Project, under the joint title of ‘Maritime Insights’,  concluded with an across-the-board acknowledgement of its success.  ‘Maritime Insights’ took place in two streams over 14th & 15th February 2012 at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore, and comprised the GVF-EMP ‘Broadband Maritime Offshore & Oc

The World Radiocommunication Conference 2012 (WRC-12)  concluded its deliberations today with the signing of the Final Acts that revise the Radio Regulations, the international treaty governing the use of radio-frequency spectrum and satellite orbits.Over 3000 participants, representing 165 out of ITU’s 193 Member States attended the four-week Conference, braving the extreme winter conditions prevailing in Geneva. Over 100 Observers from among ITU’s 700 private sector members along with international organizations also attended WRC-12.

DirecTV, the largest satellite TV provider in the United States, reported a 16 percent increase in fourth-quarter profit amid rising subscriber numbers in Latin America. Net income rose to $718 million, or US$1.02 a share, from US $618 million, or 74 cents, a year earlier, according to the company fourth quarter 2011 financial results.

Mobile video exceeded 50 percent of global internet trafficfor the first time in 2011 according to the latest The Cisco® Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update.  Global mobile data traffic grew 2.3-fold in 2011, more than doubling for the fourth year in a row. The 2011 mobile data traffic growth rate was higher than anticipated. Last year's forecast projected that the growth rate would be 131 percent. This year's estimate is that global mobile data traffic grew 133 percent in 2011. Among its findings include:

Americans spend more than 33 hours per week watching video across the screens, according to the latest Nielsen Cross-Platform Report. But how they’re consuming content—traditional TV and otherwise—is changing. Demonstrating that consumers are increasingly making Internet connectivity a priority, 75.3 percent pay for broadband Internet (up from 70.9% last year); 90.4 percent pay for cable, telephone company-provided TV or satellite. Homes with both paid TV and broadband increased 5.5 percent since last year.