CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2013: "APAC a Tremendous Market"

Singapore, June 25, 2013-CASBAA’s annual Satellite Industry Forum took place on Monday, June 17 at the Shangri-La Hotel in Singapore, attracting over 200 delegates, speakers, media, and guests from across the region and around the world. Long a staple in the industry calendar, this year’s forum explored “An Industry in Transition” with keynotes and panel discussions with satellite experts and leaders representing all facets of the industry.

“CASBAA’s Satellite Industry Forum continues to evolve and grow to meet the needs of the Asia Pacific market,” said Christopher Slaughter, CEO, CASBAA. “This is indeed an industry that is in constant transition and it is our goal to assemble the best line-up of speakers to examine the many variables affecting the industry today and the outcomes for tomorrow.”

Covering issues including spectrum and market access, regulatory regimes, and identifying growth markets and future trends in the region, panelists also explored emerging satellite technologies, the booming launch services sector and the dynamic and complicated Indian market.

Opening this year’s forum, Gwynne Shotwell, President, SpaceX, commented on the uniqueness of the Asian region and how it was a tremendous market for launch vehicles as well as satellites – with the most growth projected for fixed satellite services over the next decade.

Thomas Choi, CEO, Asia Broadcast Satellite, pointed out that: “Some of the key issues Asian satellite operators are dealing with include an extreme level of competition in Asia with over 70 satellites in this region and over 20 operators providing some kind of services. Over the past 10 years we’ve actually had very depressed prices, the lowest prices for C-band capacity have been in the Asia Pacific market.”

On a buoyant note, Paul Brown-Kenyon, Chairman, CASBAA Satellite Industry Committee; CEO, MEASAT said: “The future is…different. It’s going to be an exciting future - lots of innovation, lots of change - but the key thing is it’s uncertain. The trick is to figure out how to deal with that uncertainty – how to build in the flexibility, to evolve and capture the growth. It is going to come in interesting areas.”

Throughout the day, delegates also heard from a number of distinguished panelists from organisations including APT Satellite, Encompass Digital Media Asia, GlobeCast Asia, Inmarsat, ITU, Morgan Stanley, NewSat, Newtec, O3b Networks, and many others debate on a variety of other hot-button issues and newsworthy topics.

Partners for the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2013 included Supporting Sponsor JSAT and Sponsors Arianespace, AsiaSat, Eutelsat, Marsh, MEASAT, MHI Launch Services, SES, SpaceX and SSL.

For more information about the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2013 please visit http://www.casbaa.com/events/events-calendar/details/363-satellite-industry-forum.