Location Based Services (LBS)  market in the Asia Pacific region to grow at a CAGR of 32.98 percent over the period 2013-2018, according to a new report by Research and Markets. One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increasing adoption of location-enabled devices in China and Southeast Asian countries. The LBS market in the APAC region has also been witnessing the increasing demand for free LBS applications. However, the lack of knowledge about LBS among users could pose a challenge to the growth of this market.

CASBAA’s first event of 2014, "Phillippines in View" took place on Tuesday, January 21 at the Edsa Shangri-La in Manila. Featuring a high profile roster of influential speakers, this informative forum explored the issues molding the local broadcasting market today through a program of keynotes and panel discussions.

Informa Telecoms & Media today revealed its predictions and trends for 2014 for the telecoms and media sectors. Telecoms operator consolidation will be a recurring theme throughout 2014. In addition to in-market consolidation – Informa Telecoms & Media is seeing a slow but steady transition to three-operator mobile markets – we expect to see regional and global telecoms operator groups entering into discussions and potential deals.

SintecMedia announced a deal for the potential acquisition of Pilat Media and its merger into SintecMedia. The deal is worth approximately US$103 million. A large number of shareholders of Pilat Media have agreed to sell at the offered price and subsequently the board of Pilat Media decided to recommend the deal to all its other shareholders.

The 6th edition of IDATE’s M2M Market report, covering 2013-2017, reveals that a healthy growth rate has finally taken hold in this promising but, up until recently, underperforming market. This performance is being spurred by increased use within the main areas of application (automotive, consumer electronics and utilities) and is expected to accelerate even further over the next five years as M2M spreads to other sectors of activity.

Exhibitions India brings the 22nd edition of ‘Convergence India 2014’ to Pragati Maidan, New Delhi on January 21-23, 2014.  Themed as ‘Connecting India’, South Asia’s largest ICT forum will offer a range of conferences and an exhibition focusing on new-age technologies and business solutions.

In my previous column  I previewed GVF High Throughput Satellites 2013: Game-Changer in Action - The London Roundtable. I am very pleased to report that several participants in this latest program in the GVF-EMP Conference Partnership portfolio described the event as “A very successful conference, by any standard.” Here, in this contribution to the final edition of 2013, I wish to provide you, the reader, with the means to access at least some of the flavor of the series of great dialogs which took place in London on 5th and 6th December 2013.

Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) successfully launched the THAICOM 6 satellite for Asian satellite operator THAICOM.  The Falcon 9 rocket delivered THAICOM 6 to its targeted 295 x 90,000 km geosynchronous transfer orbit at 22.5 degrees inclination.  It was the second successful launch for a commercial company by Spaex into geostationary transfer orbit in a little over a month. The Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched the SES-8 satellite last month.

CABSAT, the leading professional content management event in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia (MEASA), has inked an alliance with the USA’s National Association of Broadcasters Show (NAB Show) which will see the world’s two biggest industry show brands in their field collaborate on a world-class content management conference programme covering the latest trends, technologies and innovations in the global broadcasting and media market.

Rupert Murdoch's 21st Century Fox has sold its 47% stake in Star China TV to China Media Capital (CMC). The joint venture, which was formed in 2010, operates three 24-hour Mandarin channels: Xing Kong, Xing Kong International, Channel [V] Mainland China and the Fortune Star Chinese movie library. The JV was formed in 2010 and is majority-owned by CMC.