The Year of Living Dangerously" is a great 1983 film by Australian director Peter Weir about an Aussie  journalist (Mel Gibson) covering political turmoil in Indonesia during the reign of Sukarno. He gets caught up in the chaos of an abortive Communist revolution and manages to escape, barely, with his life.

My previous column for this publication focused on the oil and gas exploration and production sector, with particular reference to the increasing attention of the energy industry on deepwater and ultra-deepwater hydrocarbon reserves which now appear to be much more abundant than was thought ten years ago.

by Martin Jarrold, Chief, International Programs Development, GVF

Deployment of broadband satellite technologies is correctly recognized as an imperative to maximization of cutting-edge digital oilfield applications and to considerations of cost-effectiveness – it is a force multiplier, enabling return on investment, as well as facilitating mission critical communications links.

The Middle East market has seen the recent addition of new Fixed Satellite Serivces (FSS) operators who are betting on the potential of Direct-to-Home (DTH) and broadband services via satellite in the region. But is the market really there for these services?

What drives demand for FSS satellite capacity?

Phew…we survived! That seemed to be the expression on everyone’s lips at the recently-concluded Satellite Business Week organized by EuroConsult held in Paris from 7-10 September. There was a definite feeling of relief in the air. Relief that the recession hadn’t hit the satellite companies as badly as it had other industries. A sentiment that probably isn’t shared by companies that recently filed for bankruptcy such as ICO Global, Protostar and SeaLaunch-all but the latter were noticeably absent this year.

Satellite Markets and Research Editor-in-Chief Virgil Labrador and Europe, Middle East and Africa Editor Howard Greenfield discuss the highlights of the IBC Conference and Exhibition held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands from September 10-15, 2009. To view a video of this summary click here.

by Elisabeth Tweedie

On May 13, 2009 the EC announced the award of two S-Band satellite licenses. Thus opening the door for the winning operators - Solaris Mobile and Inmarsat - to provide broadcast mobile satellite TV and other services throughout Europe. Unfortunately the path leading from that door is beginning to look more like an obstacle course than an open road.

by Robert Bell, World Teleport Association

"Bursty," as you probably know, is a term for communications traffic that unexpectedly lurches from low data rates to high data rates. It is hard to deal with because it presents two unpleasant alternatives: sizing the circuit to handle the maximum requirement, which leaves a lot of expensive capacity idle, or settling for less capacity and knowing that service will slow to a crawl during periods of peak demand. The latest shared-bandwidth and bandwidth-on-demand solutions are specifically designed to deal with bursty traffic.

Simply put, 2008 and the first half of 2009 have been years best described in 1992 by Queen Elizabeth as annus horribillis. In other words, they really stunk. This is obvious to the millions of men and women dangerously out of work everywhere; to the North American auto industry; to those dependent on financial services for credit or to make payroll, and to the billions of folks in Asia who were raised out of poverty during the past two decades, but who find their rising economic circumstances in peril.

Embracing the world of media--Telcos, mobile network operators and ISPs are now as much a part of the media business as broadcasters, cable networks and satellite services. Each is fighting for its fair share of the revenues from what is still a healthy business. But everyone has to collaborate to make the content become a reality.