Market Trends

IPTV uptake is increasing on a global scale as telcos develop compelling multi-play offerings to compete with cable and satellite operators. Infrastructure upgrades and strategic alliances between major industry players have enabled tier two and tier three telcos to deliver IPTV, leading to significant growth in rural markets. IMS Research forecasts that by 2012, over 52 million pay-TV subscribers worldwide will have adopted IPTV service with IP STB shipments growing nearly 30% annually during this time period.

By NSR

The word Mark Dankberg used on 8 January in describing the impact on ViaSat of their announcement of the new Viasat-1 satellite was "transformational". In many ways Viasat-1 has the potential to remake the company from a manufacturer of specialized satellite and wireless communications equipment to that of an infrastructure business that owns the underlying technological asset that gives rise to a large array of services, from consumer satellite broadband to mobile to video services possible.

By Bruce Elbert, President, Application Technology Strategy, Inc.

Markets for satellite communications equipment and services have expanded to fill the gaps in terrestrial broadcasting and telecommunications networks. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Middle East, which is the focus of this article. Comprising this picture are satellite operators, such as Arabsat and Nilesat; teleport operators in particular countries such as Dubai, Egypt and Jordan; and service providers who utilize these facilities to deliver applications to their Middle Eastern customers. An example of the latter would be companies that provide Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) services in a two way satellite communications format that use a particularly small dish (70 cm to 1.2 m) to transmit low bandwidth data such as credit card transactions and provide medium data rate Internet services. Satellite TV is a very important service for the region as it occupies most of the available satellite transponders in the region.

Euroconsult’s recently published report “World Satellite Communications & Broadcasting Markets Survey, Market Forecasts to 2016,” finds that growth in the fixed satellite market continues at a healthy pace, driven largely by digital entertainment and, more specifically, emerging digital markets. Accelerated deployments of corporate networks, significant needs for military communications and the takeoff of broadband access also contributed to growth.