by NSR

Recent news items from around the world give a strong indication as to the path that governments will follow in procuring satellite capacity in the coming years. The issue at hand is finding an answer to the ever increasing demand for bandwidth, and the solutions lies either with commercial satellites or a growing number of government-owned platforms. This means the impact on commercial operators’ revenues for government bulk leasing is at risk of declining.

In a previous article I referred to the operational deployment of naval and naval auxiliary forces in "non-conflict" roles and within "non-conflict" environments – across multiple and varied geographic theatres – particularly during times, and against a general backdrop, of "international peace." Specifically, such deployments include fisheries and oil/gas installation protection; human trafficking and narcotics trade interdiction in home waters; international sea lanes security; emergency food aid distribution in drought/famine-struck regions; and, similar types of task for which nava

In December 2009, VT iDirect, Inc. (iDirect), a company of VT Systems Inc (VT Systems), announced that SpaceCom International deployed a GSM cellular backhaul service based on iDirect’s satellite communications platform to rural sites in Afghanistan with immediate plans to expand throughout South and Central Asia. The company said further that the initial deployment in Afghanistan results in significant bandwidth cost savings for GSM operators.

Why Afghanistan?

Signals Telecom Consulting published the 3rd edition of its report entitled: "Latin American Market for Satellite Capacity" in January 2010. Statistical information contained in the report includes, among other variables, forecasts on the availability of satellite capacity, growth in service revenue and the development of prices.  The report indicates that Brazil accounts for around 50% of the demand for satellite capacity in the region.

 Euroconsult announced that growth in the satellite pay-TV market remained strong in 2009 despite the global economic downturn. According to the just released 4th edition of "Satellite TV Platforms, World Survey & Prospects to 2019, Growth through the Crisis", the number of TV Platforms in service increased to 113 in 2009 (+38% in three years). Pay TV platforms combined currently reach 131 million subscribers and earned $70 billion revenues in 2009.

A new quarterly research report introduced January 12, 2010 by Centris provides insight into how current economic conditions may affect a company’s revenue derived from TV, Internet and media services. The study reveals that although a significant number of households in the United States are unlikely to reduce their consumption of communication and media services as a result of economic conditions, there is still a potential impact on provider revenue.

The satellite industry, or at least the overwhelming majority that were still in business or were still employed at the start of the new year, breathed a collective sigh of relief for having survived 2009--one of the worst years since the Great Depression of the 1930s. The industry can take heart that not only has it survived 2009--it has gone through an entire decade in a better position than it started.

The Society of Satellite Professionals International released December 17, 2009 the results of its first member survey. The report, "The Satellite Industry Workforce 2009," reveals some surprising and a few not so surprising results based on responses from SSPI members around the world.

Key findings of the report, include:

· The satellite industry is not a "graying" business. The age distribution of satellite professionals is remarkably even, with 43% of respondents between the ages of 18 and 39 and 80% of respondents under the age of 54.

UK consumers are continuing to embrace digital communications services and lead internationally as a digitally advanced nation, new Ofcom research reveals.

Ofcom’s International Communications Market data provides a snapshot of the £548 billion communications market in twelve major economies in the five years to 2008 and looks at take-up, availability, pricing and use of broadband, landlines and mobiles, TV and radio in these and the four fast growing economies of Brazil, India, Russia and China.

Watching more TV, on digital sets

Many countries around the world have a requirement for owning their own satellite system to apply Earth Observation (EO) to solve problems, meet new missions and reach goals - both inside and outside their territory. But not every one of them can or has the desire or political will to do it. There are however a rising number of developing countries that have projects underway such as Vietnam, Taiwan, Chile, Dubai, Algeria, and more recently in Malaysia, which puts them solidly on the EO map.