WTA Releases Sizing the Teleport Market 2018 Report

New York, NY, April 2, 2018–The World Teleport Association (WTA) released Sizing the Teleport Market 2018, a new research report that updates market sizing data last published in 2010. It enables readers to estimate the global and regional market share of a teleport operating company, identify potentially underserved regions for investment, and support due diligence for mergers and acquisitions.

The 2018 study finds that the number of commercial teleports worldwide has decreased 1 percent per year from 2016 to 2018 as the teleport sector consolidated and companies scaled up to gain cost-efficiencies and improve their competitive position. Over the same period, however, total estimated revenues of the sector grew 6% to US$10.4 billion, as consolidation created fewer, more productive assets. In 2017, an estimated 13,700 people worked in the teleport industry, which operated more than 24,000 antennas.

“Consolidation has not been the whole story,” said WTA executive director and report author Robert Bell. “In a mature technology market, while midsize companies become larger and the largest seek further increases in scale, new players enter the market to exploit new demand created by technology and market change.”

Accessing satellites may be what distinguishes teleports from other communications service providers, but it is only part of their repertoire. Teleports are the channel by which satellite can be integrated into complex networks involving fiber, microwave, wireless and mobile technologies in order to expand their reach beyond the edge of the network, broadcast one-to-many, or feed bandwidth-hungry applications. Increasingly, they are “data centers with dishes,” which are expert at bridging apparently incompatible systems and solving challenging problems in content delivery or end-to-end networking. They know how to simplify the complexities of space-based networks in order to make satellite links just another port on the router. They are among the world's leading experts in adapting Internet Protocol technology for high-latency circuits, "push" applications and other uses never envisioned by the developers of IP. They are emerging as essential components of cloud-based applications and Internet of Things networks.

WTA members can access the report at no cost by signing in to their accounts on the WTA Website. Non-members can purchase the report for US$1,995.