News Analysis

Paris, France, February 16, 2012--Satellite operator EUTELSAT  reported first half results of fiscal year 2011-12 with revenue growth: of 4.6% at €602.4 million. EBITDA was reported to be up 3.4% to €478.5 million, generating EBITDA margin of 79.4%.

Dublin, Ireland, February 15, 2012--These are exciting times for TV in Sub-Saharan Africa. A new Research and Markets report entitled "Digital TV Sub-Saharan Africa"  by Simon Murray said: "governments are opening up to investment, which involves several pioneering foreign TV players. Populations are growing fast and incomes per capita are on the rise, creating a burgeoning number of middle class consumers."

Oslo, Norway, February 9, 2012--In the fourth quarter of 2011, Norwegian telecommunications company Telenor Group reported revenues for the quarter of NOK 25.4 billion  (US$  4.44 Billion). For the full year of 2011, Telenor’s revenue was NOK 98.5 billion  (US$ 17.2 Billion).

Dublin, Ireland, February 9, 2012--The Russian Telecom Market Generated Rb1.249trn (US$43.4billion) In Service Revenue in 2011, A 5.6% Increase year-on-year according to a new Research and Markets Report entitled:  "Russia Telecom Intelligence Report: Next-Generation Network Rollouts Drive and Bolster Revenue Growth." Data will be the main opportunity in Russia in both the fixed and mobile segments, as operators continue to invest in next-generation networks such as FTTB and LTE, according to the  report.

Munich, Germany, February 8, 2012--According to the results of the latest TV Monitor study, for the first time in the history of television in Germany, more viewers are watching TV via satellite than via cable. At the end of 2011, 17.5 million households were watching TV via satellite, almost 900,000 more than in the previous year. Ninety percent of these households were digital, leaving 1.8 million households still in the analogue reception mode. Out of the total, 5.9 million of all satellite households were watching High Definition (HD) TV. At the same time, cable lost about 900,000 households in 2011 and reducing the reach of cable TV to 17.3 million. Digital terrestrial TV lost 180,000 households, bringing its coverage down to 1.8 million. IPTV has continued to grow; with an increase of 330,000 households, IPTV exceeded the million mark, reaching 1.3 million.

Paris, February 6, 2012-- Euroconsult announced today that it expects prospects for the satellite industry to remain favorable over the decade in a variety of areas. The next ten years should see continued growth for commercial markets, while at the same time stagnating growth for government spending should be expected at least through mid-decade.

by Peter Galace, Associate Editor

Dubai, UAE, February 1, 2012--Despite  the ongoing impact of the Arab Spring protests and a dramatic re-ordering of political affairs still reverberating, the Middle East region remains a key growth area for commercial satellite industry.

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass. , February 1, 2012--In January 2012, an agreement to buy shares in the U.S. Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) was signed by Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand. The agreement enables immediate access to WGS capacity in exchange for financing the WGS-9 spacecraft. Moreover, a WGS-10 satellite is expected to be contracted soon.

London, January 26, 2012--VSAT operator service revenues grew by 14 per cent to $5.2 billion globally in 2011 according to the 12^th Edition of he COMSYS VSAT Report. The VSAT Report is the result of over twelve months of research, involving site visits and interviews with companies from Australia to Argentina and from Pakistan to Peru.

by NSR

Cambridge, Mass., January 25, 2012--When The UK Government announced support to finance half of SSTL’s newest radar satellite, it confirmed a trend NSR has seen cropping up in recent times: smaller satellites are gaining ground in both optical and now in SAR markets.As more manufacturers are looking to address this market with finer ground resolution and smaller satellites at a lower cost (£200 million for four 300 kg. SSTL radar satellites), the effect is likely to be a reduction in the cost of data at the end user side.