News Analysis

Study Shows that 60% of Utility Companies Use Satellite Technology

Herndon, Va., April 4, 2012–VT Systems and the Utilities Telecom Council (UTC) released the results of a new study on satellite communications in the utility industry. The study, Strategic Assessment of Satellite Usage in the Utility Industry, was conducted to gain a better understanding of how satellite communications is currently used in the utility industry and to better articulate the benefits of modern VSAT systems. Among the key findings were that 60% of utilities surveyed are already using some form of satellite communications technology.

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Oil and Gas Satcom Market Remains Lucrative

Cambridge, Mass, March 29, 2012--: NSR’s Oil and Gas via Satellite, 2nd Edition report. released today, finds the Oil & Gas satcom market to remain lucrative over the long-term as bandwidth needs rise worldwide and emerging Oil & Gas markets increase their requirements. Traditional Oil & Gas markets such as the North Sea and Gulf of Mexico are now increasingly complemented by growing satcom demand in Asia, Latin America and the Indian & Pacific Oceans.

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Government Space Programs Under Strong Budget Pressure

World space expenditures reach ceiling of $70 billion after decade of continuous growth

Paris, March 28, 2012–Euroconsult, said that global budgets for space programs have reached a plateau of roughly $70 billion, confirming a slowdown in expansion experienced by the space industry for the last 10 years. According to Euroconsult's new report "Profiles of Government Space Programs: Analysis of 60 Countries & Agencies," Space programs received a short-term boost in recent years from several governments to counter the economic crisis. However, they must now undergo even more stringent budget constraints exemplified by the European public debt crisis and the U.S. Budget Control Act of 2011.

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Satellite Surpasses Terrestrial, Cable as Europe's Leading Delivery Platform

London, UK, March 27, 2012--Satellite has become the leading TV infrastructure in Europe, ahead of terrestrial and cable reception according to the annual Satellite Monitor study presented by SES. Approximately 84 million European households have satellite (Direct-to-Home, DTH) as their primary TV reception mode, an increase of 22 percent over the last four years. In the same period, terrestrial TV lost nearly 16 million homes, while cable lost over 2 million. IPTV – the TV distribution over tele-communication networks in IP format – has grown from a very low level to some 16 million households.

Superfast Alternative Networks Begin to Find Their Niche in the U.K.

London, U.K., March 26, 2012--As BT and Virgin Media start to build scale in premises passed and customers sign to their superfast broadband services, some of the UK’s alternative network operators are beginning to find their niche. Although not all altnets will be successful, there are circumstances in which their varied and localised approaches look set to bring superfast broadband to individual communities that have often been struggling with access to even the most basic of broadband services.

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Hosted Payloads Continue to Emerge as Viable Option for Satellite Capacity Building

Cambridge, Mass., March 20, 2012--NSR today released its newest market survey and forecast report: Hosted Payloads on Commercial Satellites, 2nd Edition. The report concludes that, from an estimated $106.2 million in revenues for 2012, revenues for payload equipment, engineering services and commercial satellite operator hosting services are expected to range from $330.8 million to $554.0 million by 2022, yielding cumulative revenues of $1.8 billion to $2.9 billion over an 11-year period.

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2011 TV Shipments Fall After Six Consecutive Years of Growth

Santa Clara, Calif., March 14, 2012--In 2011 worldwide TV shipments fell for the first time since NPD DisplaySearch began tracking global TV shipments in 2004, slipping 0.3% to 247.7M units. As reported in the latest NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Global TV Shipment and Forecast Report, LCD TV shipments increased by 7% to just over 205M units in 2011—a substantial slowdown from the double digit growth in previous years. With plasma TV shipments declining almost 7% in 2011 to 17.2M units, the largest decline yet, and CRT shipments falling 34%, LCD growth was not enough to offset these declines.

Broadband for the Bush

by Elisabeth Tweedie, Associate Editor

Los Angeles, Calif., March 6, 2012-- After more than four years of discussion, debate and deliberation in February of this year the Australian government’s NBN Co. Ltd. signed a contract for two Ka-Band satellites to deliver broadband to the three percent of Australian households and enterprises that are located out of the reach of fiber and terrestrial wireless.  This was a landmark decision both for Australia and for the satellite industry as a whole as it marks the first time that a government has so wholeheartedly endorsed satellite as a means of providing broadband connectivity; something that last year the UN in its Broadband Challenge declared to be a “human right”.

Update on the Latin American Satellite Market

by B.H. Schneiderman

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, March 5, 2012--The Latin American satellite market continues to grow in terms of applications such as Direct-to-Home (DTH), HDTV, Cellular Backhaul & Trunking,  and government programs aimed at bridging the Digital Divide.  International satellite operators such as SES and Intelsat are forced to review their strategy and are bringing more capacity to serve the region in the next 5 years to be better positioned for relevant growth in transponder capacity and to be able to meet the growing demands of the market.

The Right Kind of Competition in Satellite Services

by Robert Bell

New York City, March 2, 2012-There are those still working today who can remember where there was no competition in the satellite business, when it was completely dominated by treaty organizations or state-owned companies beholden to national governments and bound by monopoly regulations.  There are still wide swathes of the planet where monopoly conditions rule but the international market now contains a multitude of companies large and small, operating in space and on the ground, who compete fiercely for government, media, telecommunications, maritime and other business.