The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia will kick off the 10th  anniversary of the CASBAA Singapore Satellite Industry Forum on June 14th at the Shangri-La Hotel with a dynamic program – themed "More Than Bandwidth" – with an unrivalled list of clients, operators, satellite manufacturers and launch providers.  

The Asia Pacific satellite transponder market is the most vibrant in the world with hundreds of new TV channels and related platforms ready to launch in support of the world’s largest and most dynamic pay-TV and mobile services sectors.

Over the last few years I have been devoting a not insignificant percentage of my work energies to activities linked to the offshore and maritime sectors – strategically important customers of satellite industry equipment vendors, service providers, and operators. If you are a regular reader of this column, you will know all about the GVF Oil & Gas Communications Europe event that is taking place in Aberdeen, Scotland, as I write; and, about the forthcoming Broadband Maritime Europe 2010 conference that will take place in London, England, 28-29 June.

At the 2010 NAB Show, World Teleport Association was co-producer of the Destination Broadband Theater in the Upper South Hall. In 16 panel sessions over three days, we focused on two closely-related topics: delivering and monetizing video content delivered over broadband, and how traditional television distribution is evolving in response to the broadband revolution.  

Much attention is being paid to consumer broadband service via satellite as this has the potential to match the US penetration of DTH TV and Satellite Radio (DARS). However, there is still a very substantial ongoing business using various types of VSATs to serve commercial and govern-ment needs in developed and developing regions of the world. After all, satellite communications is the best alternative if modern terrestrial infrastructure is not available.

With more than half of the 85 million strong population being under the age of 30 years, Vietnam’s subscription-TV business was given a boost at the CASBAA Vietnam’s Pay-TV Industry Seminar in Hanoi.

The seminar, themed "Pay-TV on the Rise", brought together more than 200 Vietnamese government officials, international industry decision makers and media to have a 360-degree analysis of the Vietnam pay-TV sector, including business models; the channel licensing process; intellectual property rights; copyright challenges; the prospects for Cable, DTH, IPTV and content production.

The Connection is in the Satcoms. In my various recent columns in this space I have focused on important, and ongoing, key thematic developments in the communications solutions marketplace which are separately, and collectively, creating manifold expansion opportunities for the satellite communications industry to leverage the several advantages that it has over all other communications technologies and platforms. 

The issue of inadequate bandwidth in the world very small aperture terminal (VSAT) market has experienced a conflicting impact: a spurt in service revenues and, simultaneously, a dip in the sales of equipment or hardware. VSAT providers, while pleased with the hike in service revenues, are wary of pricing many potential, cost-sensitive VSAT users out of the market.  

A telco PR executive once remarked to me that satellite was like a solution always looking for a problem.  Given that he was looking to represent my satellite consultancy firm, I thought this was an odd way to earn my business!  Dents to my ego aside, what this guy was reflecting is simply the wider telecommunications industry and a great many potential customers’ perception of satellite – VSAT communications in particular.  How things have changed!

The increasing use of telecommunications and ICTs for emergency communications, international agreements, new national policies, partnerships for cooperation in emergency are important tools already in place for even faster response to disasters. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) as the UN agency encharged with telecommunications and information communications technologies (ICT) is leading the efforts in harmonizing technologies, services and establishing standards for emergency communications.

The satellite manufacturing sector will experience steady growth in the coming decade, although a fallout from the extended and slow economic recovery will see the number of satellites in the near future drop significantly by almost 10 percent, according to a report entitled "Global Satellite Manufacturing: The Impact of Evolving Trends" by Frost and Sullivan.