LONDON, May. 8, 2008-- While the European Mobile TV market is on the verge of significant growth, it still faces problems related to the efficient transmission and distribution of Mobile TV services. This being the case, recent and emerging studies have clearly shown the use of satellite technologies for Mobile TV services to be a sensible and cost-effective solution. Hence, the use of satellite services can be expected to significantly aid the sustainable growth in spread, quality and reliability of mobile TV service offerings.

LONDON, May. 9, 2008--In the wake of personal navigation devices' success, cellular carriers have started to offer on-board and off-board navigation solutions, as well as a range of LBS (Location Based Services) such as friend finder and local search on GPS handsets. Community and social-networking-related functionality, such as the sharing of POIs (Points of Interest) and geo-tagged pictures, is also becoming popular and is expected to boost GPS-enabled handset uptake as carriers, handsets manufacturers, and service providers look to capitalize on the LBS trend.

According to the European Commission's 13th Progress Report on the Single Telecoms Market, there are eight European countries that are currently ahead of the United States when it comes to broadband deployment. Denmark, Finland, the Netherlands and Sweden are world leaders in broadband deployment with penetration rates over 30%, according to the study. The four countries, alongside the United Kingdom, Belgium, Luxembourg and France -- all have better penetration rates than the U.S. (22.1%). DSL accounts for 80% of all lines in studied EU countries.

Africa's mobile market is among the fastest-growing in the world, again gaining more than 70% in the first three quarters of 2005 alone, according to a study by Dublin-based Research and Markets. The fact that 14 African countries have achieved triple-digit compound annual growth rates (CAGR) for the past five years shows that this growth is not just short-lived. As early as 2001, Africa became the first continent as a whole where mobile phones outnumbered fixed telephone lines, which individually is the case in most African countries today.

Satellite-based navigation is a very popular technology with consumers, and the upsurge in purchases of GPS (Global Positioning System) devices is fuelling a similar growth in the market for GPS receiver chipsets. A new study from ABI Research forecasts GPS IC shipments to reach one billion annually in 2013. Average Selling Prices (ASPs) will continue to fall, but the effect on vendors' revenue streams will be more than offset by this strong growth in volume.

It looks as if even the most vociferous naysayers can no longer write off new undersea cables to the African continent as all talk and no show. Within the last few weeks, it has been reported that the construction of no less than three undersea cables along the east coast of Africa has commenced or nearly so.

A new study by Research and Markets  called "2007 European Telecoms, Mobile and Broadband - Overviews" report of the expansion and integration of the telecom market in Europe. This annual report presents the latest statistical and analytical overview of Telecoms in Europe, including the twelve new European Union (EU) access countries, together with Russia, Belarus, Moldova, and the Ukraine. The report provides important data on telecoms expansion and integration within the region, encompassing established and vital developing markets.

While in-car navigation will remain the most important application of GPS technology, the use of GPS in many other consumer, business, and industrial environments such as telematics and asset tracking will continue to grow. The GPS modernization project and the arrival of additional Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) such as GLONASS, Galileo, and Beidou/Compass will increase the availability, reliability, and precision of satellite positioning and stimulate the location ecosystem, expanding the market to more than 900 million units by 2013.

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.