Market Trends

Revenues of mobile satellite service operators grew to over $1.2 billion last year, despite the adverse impact of the economic crisis on some of the industry’s key vertical markets according to EuroConsult. Industry wholesale revenues are expected to continue growing over the next decade, by a rate of 8% (ten-year CAGR). According to Euroconsult’s just-released report "Mobile Satellite Communications Markets Survey, Prospects to 2018," the MSS industry is currently at a crucial point with growth opportunities ahead but a number of operators with high capital requirements in a difficult financing environment.

According to NSR’s new report, Global Assessment of Satellite Supply & Demand (GASD), 6th Edition, commercial satellite operators saw a very good year in 2008 with revenues up substantially. More importantly, most satellite operators have yet to report any substantial damage from the global economic crisis and, assuming recovery is solidly in place by the end of 2009, it appears that they will largely escape unscathed. There is still some risk because satellite capacity leasing is historically a trailing indicator of economic strength, yet the majority of the business is built on TV watching, and this market has only increased in the last year.

Strategy Analytics and D. I. S. Consulting announced at the IBC 2009 show in Amsterdam that their latest prediction for the global broadcast and professional media production market heralds a return to growth in 2010. After a severe downturn in most industry segments during 2009, the analysts expect global revenues to increase by 4.8% next year. The results was presented at Strategy Analytics’ annual Analyst Breakfast during this year’s IBC in Amsterdam, Netherlands, on Sunday 13th September.

A research study by Informa Telecoms and Media forecasts that the pay TV market in the Middle East and North Africa will grow from 6.9 million subscribers at the end of 2008 to 11 million by end 2014. Although over 60% of these subscribers are based in Turkey and Israel, increasing growth levels in other countries in the region highlight that the sector is developing strongly.

The paradigm shift in defence doctrine that saw the transformation of European defence into an expeditionary force, has allowed satellite communication (SATCOM) to become the primary means of integrating platforms and forces under one umbrella. European MODs are vigorously acquiring SATCOM capability since it is increasingly recognised as a force multiplier in the new European defence posture. As a result, the European defence strategic communication market is poised to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 8 per cent from 2009 to 2018, defying the economic downturn, according to Frost & Sullivan.

Research and Markets has announced the addition of Screen Digest’s new report "Mobile Market Monitor: TV H2 2008" to their offering.

The Broadband Forum announced at CommunicAsia in Singapore the latest broadband and IPTV statistics, which show impressive growth in the face of the global economic downturn. Its report, prepared for the Forum by industry analysts Point Topic (GBS database at http://point-topic.com/home/gbs/), shows that broadband grew by 16.6 million lines globally in the last quarter alone, with more than three million being added across North America - while IPTV continues to expand strongly.

Ovum’s newly released mobile broadband forecasts show that users accessing the Internet via mobile broadband enabled laptops and handsets will generate revenues of US $137 billion globally in 2014, over 450% more than in 2008. However, operators will need to content themselves with the fact that user growth will be far faster than revenue growth, meaning more users and more data traffic but declining ARPUs.

by NSR

In the last two years, much has been made within the satellite industry of transponder shortages and higher capacity pricing impacting the Sub-Saharan African market. Evidence from NSR’s Global Assessment of Satellite Demand, 5th Edition study details the current capacity issues facing this regional market, and numerous operators have already responded. Some additional capacity on existing satellites has been relocated to the Sub-Saharan Africa market, and a number of recently launched satellites have already increased supply with more to come in the next several years.

Over 47 million homes now receive digital satellite signals

50 percent or 122 million out of the 243 million TV homes in Europe receive programs digitally at the end of  2008. Overall, satellite – including other operators – has again proven to be a main driver of digitalization, providing more than a quarter of all TV households or 52 percent of all digital households with digital TV signals. The digitalization rate of satellite, as an infrastructure, is three times higher (89 percent) than that of cable networks (27 percent). This were the finding of the annual Satellite Monitor report commission by SES ASTRA.