2010 has been another bumper year for the satellite operators, including the European operators. This is all good news in times where many other sectors are still struggling. However, there is a risk that good times breed complacency. 

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The opportunities  for satellite communications in Africa has never been greater.  We saw a glimpse of this in June this year during the World Cup finals held in South Africa. The successful holding of the World Cup in South Africa demonstrated to the world that Africa is coming of age in the world’s stage. 

Plans to make Britain’s broadband the best in Europe are in danger of stalling as the rural population of the UK falls further behind their city cousins. This was the warning given today by Chief Analyst Tim Johnson of Point Topic   who was speaking at the  NextGen10 conference in Birmingham.

The World Teleport Association (WTA) announced its rankings of the Top Teleport Operators of 2010, providing a unique look into the diverse teleport sector of the global communications industry. Rankings are reported in three categories: the Independent Top Twenty, the Global Top Twenty, and the Fast Twenty.

The Independent Top Twenty

As illustrated by the inclusion of such subject matter as ‘Cloud Computing and Future Oil & Gas Industry Networking’; and, ‘Commercial Applications in the Oil & Gas Sector Context: Helping Developers Get on the Satellite Wavelength’; to ‘Building-Out the Hybrid Opportunity: Evolving Regional Broadband Satellite-Wireless Integrated Solution Deployments’, and ‘Satellite in MENA: The Future is Ka...‘, the GVF “Event Horizon” over the next several months can be characterized as having both vertical market-related and horizontal market-related elements.

Military satellite market just a few years ago was one of the fastest growing segments of the satellite communications industry.  However, a global economic downturn and de-escalation of conflicts in the Middle East and South West Asia coupled with changing warfighter requirements have had a profound effect on the future of military satellite communications.

The global satellite industry is usually viewed as an extremely competitive and sometimes cutthroat business.  Market share; revenue growth; market capitalization; and EBITDA compete for the attention of owners, management, and the investor community.  However, there is a revolution going on supporting the idea that you can “do well by doing good;” that these measures of business success can be positively impacted by a thoughtful commitment to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). 

There were three recurring themes running through the Comsys VSAT Conference in London: helping close the digital divide, Mobility – Maritime in particular and integrated service provision. 

The Fixed Satellite Services (FSS) operators have all weathered the financial crisis and even managed to continue to grow their businesses in 2009 and are continuing to grow in the first half of 2010. However, the big question is: “What is their next act?"