News Analysis

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass, August 1, 2011--Back in 2007, NSR viewed the longer term outlook in the maritime segment likely to “benefit products in Ku- and C-band ultimately and provide stronger competition to L-band services...”, recognizing that VSAT flat monthly fees with Mbps data rates provided a more predictable return-on-investment than the traditional MSS pay-per-byte model. Then Inmarsat on July 1, 2011 announced new rates that seem to go counter to this view and could drive a growing base of the smaller boat community towards the flat, predictable VSAT service fees.

Gloucestershire, U.K., July 28, 2011 — The IABM (International Association of Broadcasting Manufacturers)  released the fourth edition of its "Broadcast and Media Technology: Global Market Valuation and Strategy to 2015" study. Based on original research commissioned from IHS Screen Digest, the study offers unique insights into the recovery and growth of the worldwide broadcast industry.

Campbell, Calif., July 22, 2011--By 2012, 63% of IPTV service providers interviewed plan to support multi-screen viewing across PCs, tablets, and smartphones according to market research firm Infonetics Research2011 IPTV Services Deployment Strategies: Global Service Provider Survey. IPTV is also getting highly personalized, highly integrated, portable and on-demand according to the survey.

by NSR

July 20, 2011--Ideally an operator would like to have a satellite go from RFP to orbit in 25 to 30 months. However, the reality is that manufacturing satellites is far from an assembly line operation where every component is sourced with sufficient inventory support. Often the equipment onboard the satellite is highly specialized and vendors are few, which put constraints on delivery and in effect, time to market for satellite services.

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., July 12, 2011--O3b signed a "multi-year, multi-million dollar reseller agreement" with Sky Fiber Corporation in June 2011 following on a similar announcement with Mavoni Technologies, South Africa in May 2011. Yet, beyond these two recent contracts and one additional framework agreement with Etisalat, O3b has been fairly quiet in terms of client deals since it completed its funding in November 2010. NSR’s take on this period of contracting calm is that O3b has largely depleted the early adopter market, and most of the rest of the industry is now waiting for O3b to make concrete progress in the construction and launch of its network as well as - and especially key in NSR’s view - provide detailed information on the cost and performance of its upcoming Tier 2 ground equipment.

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., June 23, 2011--George Bernard Shaw once said that “if history repeats itself, and the unexpected always happens, how incapable must Man be of learning from experience”. NSR is not as critical about the future of the launch industry for North America and Western Europe but does extend a word of caution towards the development of next-gen launchers.