News Analysis

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., November 30, 2011-- A quick look at the supply numbers seems to indicate that the previously hot satellite market in Sub-Saharan Africa has the potential to become an oversupply fiasco for the FSS industry. During the run up of the African market, satellite operators of every stripe decided to launch new capacity into the region with NSR estimating over 300 TPEs of new and replacement C- and Ku-band capacity will be launched in the coming two years for Sub-Saharan Africa alone. The slew of satellites includes ABS-2, Africasat-1a, Amos-4, Amos-5, Apstar VII, Arabsat 5C, Astra 2E, Astra 2F, Astra 2G, Atlantic Bird 7, Badr-7, Intelsat 20, Intelsat 22, NigComSat-1R, SES-4, SES-5, Thaicom-6, W3C, W3D, W5A, and Yamal-402.

Washington, D.C. November 18, 2011--The  Global VSAT Forum (GVF) has launched a global campaign to assure that communications customers will continue to have unfettered access to Ka-Band spectrum for delivery of state-of-the-art consumer, government and enterprise solutions. The centrepiece of the campaign is the “White Paper for National Regulators on Satellite Services in the Ka-Band.” The GVF’s Regulatory Working Group (RWG) finalized the White Paper in preparation for the International Telecommunication Union’s 2012 World Radiocommunication Conference (WARC), where the world’s governments will meet in Geneva, Switzerland to consider how best to allocate and manage spectrum in all three of the ITU’s Regions.

London, UK, November 1, 2011-Broadband analyst firm Point Topic, predicts there will be over 10.5 million superfast broadband lines in Britain within the next five years. With another 4.6 million cable broadband connections this means that almost 60% of broadband customers – and more than half of all homes and businesses – will be using superfast speeds of 30 megabits or more by the end of 2016.

Point Topic’s Oliver Johnson to review broadband mapping, the challenges involved and the solutions at ITU Telecom World 2011

London, UK, October 25, 2011--Broadband continues to spread throughout the world’s population, getting faster and benefitting millions, but according to leading analyst firm Point Topic this has also increased the need for accessible and transparent mapping. It is such mapping of take-up, coverage and speeds that highlights to governments and regulators the evident disparities of broadband availability and where investment funds are best spent.

Boston, MA - October 18, 2011 – The number of homes using the internet to watch television shows and movies on the TV screen has reached more than 42 million across the US and Europe, according to the latest research from Strategy Analytics’ Connected Home Devices (CHD) service. The report, “Multiscreen Connected TV: Assessing Device Usage and Ownership,” bases its findings on a survey of 4800 respondents.

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass.,  September 29, 2011- When EADS Astrium announced on August 1 they had purchased Vizada Networks for $960 million, the satellite world was puzzled: why would a satellite manufacturer and mostly government-focused fixed satellite service (FSS) provider buy a mobility centric-business like Vizada? With the Global Xpress contract for three Inmarsat-5 satellites going to rival Boeing, is this deal a way for EADS to get back ‘lost’ revenues? As economic conditions continue to be mediocre at best, is EADS just looking to diversify revenue streams? Whatever the motivation, the EADS acquisition of Vizada Networks begins the saber rattling in the next battle of Ka-band mobility.

London, UK, September 27, 2011--The Broadband and IPTV Growth Report presented at the Broadband World Forum in Paris, shows that broadband continued to show healthy growth in the first half of 2011. Prepared for the Broadband Forum by industry analysts Point Topic, the figures reveal the broadband subscriber total at the end of June 2011 is now standing at 557.8 million subscriber lines, up by over 29M lines since the start of this year. The second quarter outperformed the same period last year, continuing the trend of stronger growth set in the first quarter’s results announced in June. The good news in broadband was compounded with the news that IPTV has passed a milestone: 51M customers now subscribe to IPTV services worldwide, with France in the lead as top IPTV country.