News Analysis

by Elisabeth Tweedie

Los Angeles, March 1, 2011-- The demand for mobile backhaul is growing at an unprecedented rate. Smart phones on ave-rage consume five times as much bandwidth as a regular cell phone and the number of smart phones is projected to increase by 300% to  two billion units in 2015.  This has prompted the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) to call for an increase in both fiber and spectrum in order to avoid network bottlenecks.  In July 2010 NSR projected that the satellite portion of this market should be worth just under  US$ 600 million by 2015. 

by Michelle Elbert

Los Angeles, Calif., February 8, 2011--VSAT technology today offers a solid platform for medium to high bandwidth applications in the enterprise domain.  However many potential users harbor concerns the medium might be too costly and unreliable.  How these concerns are addressed varies greatly based on the application and location.  The satellite industry is dropping its old boiler plate about ease of use and speed to deploy and moving towards being something that can handle applications which require more bandwidth with a truly independent and private network.

London, UK, February 3, 2011--Just 1.2 million pay-TV consumers canceled their subscriptions in favor of over-the-top video alternatives in 2010, according to a new report from Informa Telecoms Media, reflecting just 0.18 percent of the global pay-TV market.

London, UK, Feb. 1, 2011--Cable will retain dominance in the global multi-channel TV market over the next five years but the threat from the new generation of digital and internet protocol (IP) services will take its toll, predicts Ovum.

Paris, January 12, 2011--The television industry is back on a growth path, with a global market of EUR 289.2 billion, which marks a 7.1% increase compared to 2009., according to the latest  World Television Market Report by IDATE.  This report analyses the overriding trends and changes taking place in the markets around the globe. It explores the driving forces behind the market’s growth and transformation, including an examination of the chief market trends, plus volume and value forecasts up to 2014 by geographical area and by country.

by NSR

Cambrige, Mass. January 5, 2011--It seems like a natural progression to bring the Internet to every possible consumer electronics device available today, and the television set is no exception. Not to be left behind, many a DTH provider has provisioned Ethernet ports in the next generation of STBs, although the software and strategy to provide enhanced services may still be a few years away. As expected, North America and Western Europe are leading this market as viewers in these regions become more particular about what content they want as well as where and when they want it. Strategies in both of these markets are somewhat different though with DTH operators in North America building their own proprietary online platforms, while their European counterparts opt for the HbbTV standard.

SINGAPORE, December 1, 2010--Latest figures from ABI Research indicates that there are currently more than 500 3G network commitments, and over 300 WiMAX and LTE announcements worldwide. This equates to more than two billion of the world’s population being covered by high-speed data networks. The demand for speedy data networks continues to rise across the globe.  

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., November 23, 2010 - China’s web TV market kicked off in 2009, with over 2 million web TV set shipments and about 1/4 million web TV set top box (STB) shipments. The fast development of the web TV market is driven by competition between the giant domestic TV vendors and the low incremental cost for web TV functionality, helping drive wider user acceptance, according to In-Stat.

by Stephen Tom

Washington, D.C., October 15, 2010--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).