Many industry observers are quick to note that the teleport business which has been undergoing considerable consolidation in the last few years is not as viable a business as it used to be. One relatively new entrant to the teleport business is trying to disprove the doubters.
ABS-CBN International (ABS-CBNi), the U.S.-based subsidiary of ABS-CBN Broadcasting, one of Asia’s largest entertainment and broadcasting company, purchased a struggling teleport facility in Northern California from satellite operator Loral Skynet in November 2005. ABS-CBNi received Federal Communications Commission licensing approval in April 2006 and retained the name of the teleport-San Francisco International Gateway or SFIG. In just over two years of operation, it has achieved profitability by serving a niche market of ethnic programmers from its facilities in Richmond, California and Manila, Philippines.
"The fact that a successful ethnic broadcaster like us also operates a teleport is an advantage to our customers. Since ABS-CBN International is primarily in the business of content distribution, we understand exactly what our customers from media and entertainment need. We can provide them with know-how and experience that teleports offering basic transmission and plain vanilla uplink services are not able to do," said Chinky de Jesus, Managing Director of ABS-CBN International.
"SFIG’s business grew naturally as a result of our intent to maximize the utilization of assets that ABS-CBN had. We are initially focusing on the area where we have an advantage - by virtue of our California location and the capabilities of our Asian teleport, we are in the best position to provide transport services for customers to and from Asia," said Sherry Ann Supelana, SFIG’s Director of Engineering & Technical Services.
SFIG is a "carrier class" satellite communications facility and is one of the few independent and multi-platform capable operators in the world. SFIG provides access to communication satellites serving North America, Asia, Latin America and select European satellites, and in cooperation with other facilities, also provides services to the Middle East and Africa.
Recently, SFIG announced completion of technology upgrades and the launch of "triple play" services for voice, video and data services at their satellite uplink center located in Richmond, Calif.
"We are expanding our fiber network as well as our network monitoring system so that we can better support voice and data services via the internet in addition to providing transport services for the program content of our customers. The expansion allows for an OC48 ring capability to be available into the teleport to link our point of interconnection (POI) located in LA for various customers located there as well as for customers coming from Asia. In short, we are preparing SFIG to provide end-to-end services tailored-fit for our customer requirements.," added Supelana.
With its initial success in the teleport business, ABS-CBNi’s de Jesus is very bullish about the business, even with the economic downturn. "I am very confident that the teleport sector will continue to thrive in spite of the global economic crisis. With the changing dynamics in the industry, our goal is to add more services to our portfolio. While transmission services remain at the core of SFIG’s operations, we will include more non-transmission services in the mix. To cite an example, we have recently been offering video and audio production and post-production services through our state-of-the-art full-service studio. The goal is to become a total solutions provider to our customer and we are doing this by expanding capabilities and establishing partnerships," said de Jesus.
