Market Trends

 by Bruce Elbert, President, Application Strategy, Inc. and Michelle Elbert

The satellite broadband sector has gained a lot of ground as there are now approximately over one million individual users worldwide. These are families and small businesses who subscribe to service providers that address the individual consumer by providing a dish, modem and access to the Internet. With the familiar asymmetrical arrangement, these services deliver download speeds between 200 kbps and perhaps 1 Mbps; and upload speeds that hover at 100 kbps as a peak rate. Subscribers generally choose satellite broadband because they cannot obtain one of the more common terrestrial broadband services, namely DSL and cable modem. I encounter many who employ satellite broadband and they uniformly find it reasonably good and a worthwhile expenditure, since they need "always on" high speed access to the Internet for a combination of work and pleasure.

Given the sorry recent history of CEOs misrepresenting the health and future of their companies, it would be understandable if recent statements from individuals ranging from Romain Bausch of SES, Guiliano Beretta of Eutelsat and David McGlade of Intelsat, that their companies had yet to see any substantial impact from the major global economic downturn were to be taken with a grain of salt. Yet, NSR has recently completed its annual data collection effort of television channels and feeds carried on commercial satellites, and the actual results truly do support these assertions.

by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

Beginning with what seemed like another promising year for the satellite industry, 2008 saw the world’s economy go down in a spiralling downturn that brought us into the world’s worst recession since the Great Depression in 1933. They don’t have a name for this recession yet (remember the "Oil Crisis" of the 70s and the "Telecom and Dot.com Bust" of the late 90s/early 2000s). But then again we are just in the beginning of this one. No one can really foretell what lies ahead, but it will almost certainly get worse before it gets better.

by NSR

More than three years ago, NSR first stated in its Broadband Satellite Markets studies that government efforts to require universal access to broadband services would be a boon to the European market for broadband satellite Internet access services. Such initiatives never come about as quickly as service providers would like, but it now appears that Europe is truly setting itself upon this path.

ITU Secretary-General Hamadoun Touré said  that worldwide mobile cellular subscribers are likely to reach the 4 billion mark before the end of this year.  Dr Touré was speaking at the high-level events on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in New York, where he also participated in UN Private Sector Forums addressing the global food crisis and the role of technological innovation in meeting the MDGs.

by Virgil Labrador, Editor-in-Chief

With the global financial downturn, satellite companies are always looking for new and emerging markets to sell their products and services.  But with the increasingly global nature of the world’s economies, there are fewer markets left to explore.

Worldwide IPTV Service Revenue Will Reach $19 Billion in 2012

Worldwide subscriptions to internet Protocol television (IPTV) services are on pace to reach 19.6 million subscribers in 2008, a 64.1 per cent increase from 12 million subscribers in 2007, according to Gartner, Inc. Worldwide IPTV revenue is projected to total $4.5 billion in 2008, a 93.5 per cent increase from 2007 revenue of $2.3 billion.

A new generation of satellites, and spectrum assigned to mobile satellite services, will play a prominent role in the next major development in television and radio broadcasting.

Growth in the fixed satellite market has maintained its healthy pace, driven by digital entertainment and emerging digital markets. Accelerated deployments of corporate networks, considerable needs for military communications and broadband access uptake have also contributed to growth, according to Euroconsult’s recently-issued report “World Satellite Communications & Broadcasting Markets Survey, Market Forecasts to 2017.” The report said that the satellite fixed services market is well poised to face the current economic downturn.

NSR released findings from its latest report, Mobile TV and Mobile Video, 2nd Edition - A Complete 360-degree Analysis,  on September 9, 2008. The report examines market and technology trends influencing mobile TV stakeholders' participation and provides regional forecasts for broadcast and unicast distribution. The report indicates that a combination of converging trends will allow mobile TV to experience considerable growth, but a number of inhibitors will prevent the sector from reaching its full monetization potential.