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Decemberr 2005 SATMAGAZINE.COM

http://www.ses-global.com

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Vol. 3 No. 8, December 2005

TABLE OF CONTENTSClick on the title to go

directly to the story

Oh what a year it was!2005 is a milestone in theindustry replete with furtherconsolidation and launch ofnew services andapplications.

.

By Virgil Labrador By Dan Freyer

by Bruce Elbert

3 / Notes from theEditor

4 / Calendar of Events5 / Industry News8 / Executive Moves12 / New Products and

Services

36 / Vital Statistics37 / Market Intelligence40 / Advertisers’ Index/

Stock Quotes

by Chris Forrester

19 / CEOs Sharetheir Views on2005 andProspects for2006

16 / Top Stories of2005

24 / 2005: What aSpectacularYear forEurope!

34 / Inteview withMicrospace Vice-President Greg Hurt

EXECUTIVEEXECUTIVEEXECUTIVEEXECUTIVEEXECUTIVE

SPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHTSPOTLIGHT

COVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORYCOVER STORY FEAFEAFEAFEAFEATURESTURESTURESTURESTURES FEAFEAFEAFEAFEATURESTURESTURESTURESTURES

REGULAR DEPREGULAR DEPREGULAR DEPREGULAR DEPREGULAR DEPARTMENTARTMENTARTMENTARTMENTARTMENTSSSSS

31 / Satellites at theMidpoint of ThisMillennium’sFirst Decade

VIEWPOINTVIEWPOINTVIEWPOINTVIEWPOINTVIEWPOINT

Our annual CEO surveyreveal much optimismamong chief executivesof leading satellitecompanies.

REGIONAL UPDREGIONAL UPDREGIONAL UPDREGIONAL UPDREGIONAL UPDAAAAATETETETETE

Despite the pressuresbrought about by industryconsolidation, theEuropean market isshowing great potential.

Government projects (E-Gov)is fueling growth in the LatinAmerican satellite market.

29 / Latin AmericaYear in Review

Industry veteran Bruce Elbertlooks at 2005 in the context ofthe overall development of theindustry in the new millenniumand the prospects for furthergrowth.

Greg Hurt of Raleigh, NorthCarolina-based MicrospaceCommunications talks aboutthe hottest applications in theindustry—digital signage anddigital cinema among others.

by Bernardo Schneiderman

SATMAGAZINE.COM

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December 2005

Satnews Publishers is the leadingprovider of information on theworldwide satellite industry. Foremore information, go towww.satnews.com

Cover Design by: Simon Payne

Published monthly bySatnews Publishers800 Siesta Way,Sonoma, CA 95476 USAPhone (707) 939-9306Fax (707) 939-9235E-mail: [email protected]: www.satmagazine.com

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Jill Durfee([email protected])Advertising Sales

Joyce Schneider([email protected])Advertising Sales

Copyright © 2005Satnews PublishersAll rights reserved.

EDITORIALSilvano PaynePublisher

Virgil LabradorManaging Editorand Editor, North America

Chris ForresterEditor, Europe, Middle Eastand Africa

Bernardo SchneidermanEditor, Latin America

Peter GalaceEditor, Asia-Pacific

John Puetz, Bruce ElbertDan Freyer, Howard GreenfieldContributing Writers,The Americas

David Hartshorn, Martin JarroldContributing Writers, Europe

NOTE FROM THE EDITOR

Oh What a Year!

Although as I write this, there’s still a little over a month left in 2005, I think it’s safe to say that it’s

been a good year for the industry. This is affirmed by theannual survey we conduct among CEOs who almost to aman, said they had a better year than last year. They alsoall expect 2006 to be even better.

In this issue we look back at 2005 and provide various perspectives. Isummarize the year top stories in our cover story (page 16). We haveregional reviews from our European and Latin American correspondents.Bruce Elbert looks at 2005 from the big picture of being the mid-point in thefirst decade of the new millennium. From all sides, it still looks like a greatyear.

However, when future historians look at 2005 for the satellite industry, theevent that will stand out might not be the Intelsat-PanAmSat merger--whichis undoubtedly very significant--but perhaps see it as the year whenconsumer satellite services first began taking off. Two major satellitebroadband services were introduced in 2005--WildBlue in North Americaand iPSTAR in Asia.

Two Inmarsat satellites were launched dedicated to their mobile broadbandservice BGAN. Finally, satellite radio in the U.S. passed a landmark 8million subscribers--the fastest medium to do so in history.

The consumer market is mass market. Nothing speaks of an industrycoming of age than making it in the consumer market. Just look at whatsatellite did to TV. Now in the new millennium the challenge is to do thesame to the broadband market.

With the good start in 2005--the future looks promising, indeed.

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DECEMBERDECEMBERDECEMBERDECEMBERDECEMBERDecember 1-2, Sheraton Gateway Hotel, Los Angeles, CAConference and Spotbeam Awards DinnerMr. Elizabeth BurkheadPhone: (805) 349-2633, Ext. 18 / Fax: (805) 349-2635E-mail: elizabeth.burkhead @californiaspaceauthority.orgWebsite: www.californiaspaceauthority.org

December 5-7, Sofitel Wentworth , Sydney, AustraliaSatcom Australia 2005Peta LemonTel: +61 2 9005 0749 / Fax: +61 2 9281 5517E-mail: [email protected]: terrapinn.com/2005/satcom_au 2006

January 15-18, Honolulu, Hawaii USAPTC’06Shift Happens: Transition to IPTel.: +1.808.941.3789 / E-mail: [email protected]: http://www.ptc06.org

February 6-9, Washington, D.C.Satellite 2006Rick FelperinTel: +1-301-354-1691 / Email: [email protected]: www.satellite2006.com

February 20-24, Johannesburg, South AfricaSatcom Africa 2006Candice ZietsmanTel: +27 11 516 4066 / Fax: +27 11 707 8342Email: [email protected]: www.satcomafrica.com

March 7-9, Dubai, United Arab EmiratesCABSAT 2006David LimTel: +971 4 308 6012 / +971 4 332 1000Fax: +971 4 332 2866 / 331 8034Email:[email protected] / Website: www.cabsat.com

March 21-23, New Delhi, IndiaConvergence India 2006Tel.: 91 - 11 - 5279 5000 / Fax.: 91 - 11- 5279 5098/99E-mail: [email protected]: www.convergenceindia.org

April 22-27, Las Vegas, NevadaNAB 2006Tel: +45 3815 3332 / 202-429-5300 Fax: 202-429-4199Email: [email protected] / Website: www.nab.org

May 4-5, Copenhagen Business School, Copenhagen,DenmarkEuropean Satellite Cultures ConferenceJulie UldamTel: +45 3815 3332Email: [email protected] / Website: www.cbs.dk/esc

June 13-15, San Diego Hilton Resort at Mission Bay, SanDiego, CA, USAISCe Conference and ExpoHannover Fairs USAPhone: +1 310 410 9191 / Fax: +1 310 410 9396Email: [email protected] / Website: www.isce.com

June 20-23, SingaporeCommunicAsia 2006Tel: +65 6738 6776 Fax: +65 6732 6776Email: [email protected]: www.communicasia.com

Broadcast Asia, June 20-23, SingaporeContact: Tel: +65 6738 6776Fax: +65 6732 6776Email: [email protected]: www.broadcast-asia.com

JJJJJANUANUANUANUANUARARARARARYYYYY

FEBRFEBRFEBRFEBRFEBRUUUUUARARARARARYYYYY

APRILAPRILAPRILAPRILAPRIL

MARCHMARCHMARCHMARCHMARCH

MAMAMAMAMAYYYYY

JUNEJUNEJUNEJUNEJUNE

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Sea Launch Delivers SecondInmarsat-4 Satellite to Orbit

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Sea LaunchCompany successfully delivered onNov. 8 the Inmarsat-4 (I-4-F2) commu-nications satellite to geosynchronoustransfer orbit (GTO). Early dataindicate the spacecraft is in excellentcondition, Sea Launch said. A Zenit-3SL vehicle lifted off at 6:07am PT (14:07 GMT) from the OdysseyLaunch Platform at 154 degrees WestLongitude and all systems performednominally throughout the flight, SeaLaunch said. The Block DM-SL upperstage inserted the 5,958 kg (13,108 lb.)satellite to geosynchronous transferorbit, on its way to a final orbitalposition of 53 degrees West Longi-tude. A ground station at LakeCowichan, in British Columbia,acquired the first signal from thesatellite less than 25 minutes after

spacecraft separation, as planned. Inmarsat-4 is designed to provide high-speed mobile service topeople throughout the Americas during its 13-year service life. Itis the second in a series of satellites designed to support theBroadband Global Area Network (BGAN) for high-speed deliveryof Internet and intranet content and solutions, video-on-demand,videoconferencing, fax, e-mail, phone and LAN access. One of a family of three similar spacecraft, this Inmarsat-4 F2satellite carries a single global beam that covers up to a third ofthe Earth’s surface, 19 wide spot beams and 228 narrow spotbeams. It has a total end-of-life power of 13kW. The first Inmarsat-4 satellite, I-4 F1, was launched from CapeCanaveral by International Launch Services on March 11, 2005. Study Says Satellite BroadbandServices Generating Solid Revenues,Creating New Markets CAMBRIDGE, MA — Revenues generated by satellite broad-band services, both for large networks and individual consum-

ers, will grow by an average of 8 percent globally in the comingyears, projects Northern Sky Research (NSR). In its “Global Assessment of Satellite Demand” study, NSR saidleased commercial transponder capacity is expected to increaseby more than 5 percent annually over the same period. Based onthis growth, NSR forecasts that satellite broadband services willexhibit some of the greatestgrowth potential in thecommercial satellite industryjust after the mainstay videosector. Leased Ku-band capacityalone should see a net gain ofmore than 250 transponders inthe coming years, and uptakeof new Ka-band basedsatellite broadband services inNorth America is exceedingexpectations, NSR said. “This is clearly a verydynamic market that is trulybreaking out of its traditionalcorporate VSAT networkspace and beginning to proveits worth among both smallbusinesses and consumers,”said Patrick French, senior analyst for NSR. “SkyTerra Communi-cations’ recent purchase of the outstanding shares of HughesNetwork Systems from DirecTV illustrates that in less than ayear, the value and the strength of this sector has increasedconsiderably.” HNS has recently reported topping 300,000 North Americanconsumer and small business subscribers to its Direcwayservices, and newly launched competitor WildBlue appears tohave overcome its equipment bottleneck that was created byhigher than projected initial service take-up. China Sells Satellite to Venezuela CARACAS, Venezuela — China signed on Nov. 1 a newtelecommunications satellite program contract with Venezuela.The contract was signed in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas onTuesday with President Hugo Chavez attending the signingceremony.

The Chinese government-owned China Great Wall Industry

A Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket lifts offfrom the OdysseyLaunch Platform at6:07 am PST (14:07GMT) on Nov. 8,carrying Inmarsat-4F2 communicationssatellite.

Satellite broadband ser-vices will exhibit some ofthe greatest growth poten-tial in the commercialsatellite industry just afterthe mainstay video sectoraccording to Northern SkyResearch.

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INDUSTRY NEWS

Corporation will design, manufacture, test and launch the VENE-SAT-1 satellite. The satellite will be based on the Dongfanghong-4 satellite template, and will be launched on a Long March-3Bcarrier rocket from Southwest China’s Xichang Satellite LaunchCenter. The satellite will be launched in 2008 from China, Venezuela’sMinistry of Science and Technology said in a statement. Chavezannounced that 90 Venezuelans will travel to China to take part inthe construction of the telecommunications satellite. He added30 Venezuelans will be trained to operate the satellite whileanother 30 will be trained to operate the teleport. The VENE-SAT-1 deal is Great Wall Industry’s first contract for acommunications satellite to be delivered in-orbit for a LatinAmerican customer. It is also the first satellite deal betweenChina and Venezuela.

Dubbed the “Simon Bolivar Satellite,” after the South Americanindependence hero who inspired Chavez’s socialist “revolution,”the satellite will make Venezuela self-sufficient in telecommunica-

tions according to Chavez. The government statement added thesatellite will have a positive impact on the economy and sociallife since it will boost medicine, education, and phone networks.

Thuraya’s Third Satellite Targeted forLaunch in 2007 UAE — The UAE’s Thuraya Satellite TelecommunicationsCompany plans to launch its third satellite into orbit in 2007. According to UAE news reports, the project is on but thecompany will float a tender for competitive bidding, Yousuf AlSayed, chief executive of Thuraya, told the Gulf News.

He said construction of Thuraya 3 is on track and delivery mightbe a few months earlier than the scheduled June 2006 date. Buthe added the company doubts the commercial launch would takeplace in 2006 because Thuraya plans to issue a tender and getbids for the launch.

As early as June 2002, Thuraya has already contracted Boeing


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December 2005

INDUSTRY NEWS

Satellite Systems to build Thuraya 3. Itwas also Boeing who constructedThuraya 1 and 2. Thuraya-1, the firstBoeing-built GEO-Mobile (GEM) modelspacecraft, was launched by SeaLaunch in Oct. 2000. Thuraya-2, also builtby Boeing, was launched by Sea Launchon June 2003. Thuraya-3 is expected tojoin Thuraya-2 at an orbital slot 44degrees East.

Malaysia’s Measat ContractsOrbital for New Satellite

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — MeasatSatellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. (formerlyknown as Binariang Satellite Systems Sdn.Bhd.), a wholly owned subsidiary ofMeasat Global Bhd., announced on Nov.11 the signing of a contract for theprocurement of the Measat-1R spacecraft

from Orbital Sciences Corp.Measat -1R will provide high powered Cand Ku-band capacity over Malaysia,Indonesia and the wider Asia-Pacificregion. It will employ 12 C-band and 12Ku-band transponders, each providing 36MHz of bandwidth, over a 15 yearminimum service life.

The Measat -1R C-band payload,providing a global single beam coveringEastern Africa, The Middle East, Asia andAustralia, will be designed to support thenext generation of telecommunicationsand video services. The Ku-bandpayload, with two focused beamsproviding coverage over Malaysia andIndonesia, will support new Direct toHome (DTH) video and data services.

“Measat is experiencing strong demand

for satellite services at our key 91.5°Eorbital location,” said Tun Hanif Omar,director of Measat. “With the Measat-1satellite operating close to capacity, andstrong demand in leasing capacity on thenew Measat-3 satellite, we see a clearneed to replace the Measat-1 satellitewhen it reaches end of life and provideexpansion capacity for our Ku-Band services, ” he added. SM

http://www.comtechefdata.com

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EXECUTIVE MOVES

ND SatCom Names Peng Ye NewManaging Director for Beijing

FRIEDRICHSHAFEN, Germany — ND SatCom has appointed anew member to its executive management team.

Dr. Peng Ye joined ND SatCom as new vice president of NDSatCom AG and managing director of ND SatCom Beijing. Themanagement addition reflects the company’s direction tocontinuously expand its leading position in the worldwidesatellite network solution market.

Before joining ND SatCom, Peng Ye, who holds a bachelor’sdegree in computer communications, a Ph.D. degree in informa-tion & software engineering, and an executive MBA degree,previously served as vice president of Motorola Asia Pacific Ltd.and general manager of China Netcom Operations.

Orbimage Adds James M. Simon, Jr.,as New Board Member

DULLES, Va. — Orbimage Inc. has announced that James M.Simon, Jr. has joined the board of directors of its parent com-pany, Orbimage Holdings, Inc. Following a distinguished careerwith the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), Simon now serves asthe founding director of the Microsoft Institute for AdvancedTechnology in Governments located in Reston, Va.

A career CIA officer, Simon was appointed by President Clintonand confirmed by the Senate in 1999 as the first assistant directorof CIA for administration, a position he held until retirement in2003. As deputy to the deputy director of Central Intelligence forcommunity management, he was responsible for setting policyfor and overseeing the budgets of the 14 agencies that comprisethe intelligence community. After September 11th, he wasdesignated as the senior intelligence official for homelandsecurity establishing and chairing the Homeland SecurityIntelligence Council.

Currently Simon is the founding director of the MicrosoftInstitute for Advanced Technology in Governments. TheInstitute’s purpose is to bring the fruits of Microsoft’s world-leading advanced research and development activities to solveintractable problems for the global public sector. Simon’s mostrecent position before joining Microsoft was as president andCEO of a consulting and services firm, IntelligenceEnterprises,LLC.

Simon was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1969 and retired

from active reserve in 1997. His educational background includesa B.A. from the University of Alabama and an M.A. from theUniversity of Southern California. He also has studied at theUniversity of Maryland, the Johann Wolfgang GoetheUniversitat in Frankfurt, the Bayern Staats Universitat inMunich, the Industrial College of the Armed Forces, and HarvardUniversity.

Sirius Appoints Kozlowski as SeniorVP of Strategic Sales Dev’t, Robertsas VP of Retail Distribution

NEW YORK — Sirius Satellite Radio has appointed StanKozlowski as senior VP of Strategic Sales Development reportingto Jim Meyer, president of sales and operations.

Consumer electronics industry veteran Mike Roberts has alsobeen appointed vice president of retail distribution, reporting toBob Law, senior vice president and general manager, consumerelectronics division for Sirius.

Prior to joining Sirius, Roberts was North American salesmanager for Delphi Corporation with responsibility for oversee-ing all aftermarket sales activities for Delphi’s Consumer Elec-tronics Division, including satellite radio and mobile entertain-ment.

Before joining Delphi, Roberts served as vice president ofMobile Electronics for Kenwood USA Corporation, where he wasresponsible for overseeing all sales activities for mobile enter-tainment in the U.S. and Mexico.

Intelsat Appoints Dianne VanBeber VPof Investor Relations and CorporateCommunications

WASHINGTON — Intelsat has announced that DianneVanBeber has returned to the company in an expanded role,having recently been appointed vice president of InvestorRelations and Corporate Communications.

With nearly 15 years experience in the satellite industry, Intelsatsaid, VanBeber brings a broad financial and marketing back-ground to her position, and is responsible for Intelsat’s relation-ship with analysts, investors, and the financial community atlarge. A veteran of over $5 billion of public debt and equityofferings, VanBeber has played a key role in Intelsat’s financingactivities since initially joining the company in 2001.

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EXECUTIVE MOVES

As the executive responsible for corporate communications,VanBeber sets the strategic direction for all of Intelsat’s externaland internal corporate communications activities, including itscorporate giving and media relations programs, in addition toserving as the company’s corporate spokesperson.

Prior to initially joining Intelsat in 2001, VanBeber was VP,Investor Relations at GilatSatellite Networks Ltd., where sheestablished Gilat’s investor relations office and was heavilyinvolved in its broadband satellite initiatives. From 1994 to 1998,VanBeber served in a variety of business development andmarketing roles at GE Capital Spacenet Services, ending as VP,Marketing, and during that time was also responsible for keybusiness development initiatives in Europe and India.

VanBeber holds a B.S. in Business Administration and an MBAin Finance from the University of Kansas.

DigitalGlobe Appoints Jill Smith asPresident and CEO

LONGMONT, Colo. — DigitalGlobe named on Monday JillSmith, who has a wealth of experience leading commercialtechnology companies in the Internet, software and electronicpublishing markets, as president and CEO. Herb Satterlee willcontinue in his role as chairman of DigitalGlobe.

Smith was previously president and CEO of eDial, a collaborationsoftware company that Smith successfully repositioned andgrew, culminating in eDial’s acquisition by Alcatel. Before that,she was COO of Micron Electronics, Inc., a $1.5 billion direct PCmanufacturer and marketer. While at Micron, Smith drove the PCbusiness to profitability, and grew HostPro, Micron’s award-winning Web hosting division, into the third-largest Web andapplication hosting company and a candidate for an IPO.

Smith co-founded and led Treacy & Company, LLC, a boutiqueconsulting and investment business, and was CEO of SRDS, L.P.,a private publishing and printing company that she successfullyestablished as an electronic publishing leader.

Smith’s earlier professional experience includes executivepositions at Sara Lee Corporation and the role of vice presidentat Bain & Company. She earned a master’s degree in businessadministration from the MIT Sloan School of Management.

In Satterlee’s continued role as company chairman, he will beworking with DigitalGlobe’s defense and intelligence businessunit, managing government relations around the world.

Snell & Wilcox Appoints JonathanGoldstein as Americas President

BURBANK, Calif. — Media andentertainment industry veteran JonathanGoldstein has been appointed Americaspresident of Snell & Wilcox, succeedingDick Crippa, who will continue to servethe company in a part-time role as non-executive chairman. Goldstein will reportto Simon Derry, Snell & Wilcox CEO.

Goldstein brings to his new position a 15-year track record of helping media and

entertainment companies grow their businesses. Prior to joiningSnell & Wilcox, he spearheaded a consultancy focused onbuilding successful executive teams and sales forces for enter-tainment and new media companies.

Goldstein’s career has included several senior roles in majorglobal consulting firms, including the media and entertainmentpractice at Booz Allen & Hamilton and an executive role at TheWalt Disney Company.

Goldstein holds MBA and Bachelor of Science degrees from theWharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He will bebased in Snell & Wilcox’s Burbank office.

Tandberg Television Appoints EricBaron as President of EMEA

SOUTHAMPTON, UK — Tandberg Television has appointedEric Baron to the newly created position of President of Europe,Middle East and Africa (EMEA).

Baron, who has been VP of Sales for EMEA at Tandberg Televi-sion for the past two years, will expand his remit to take onresponsibility for the entire P&L performance of the EMEAregion, Tandberg said.

In his new role Baron will be responsible for the sales, deliveryand support of the full range of Tandberg solutions to customersacross EMEA. In addition to managing and growing thecompany’s direct and indirect sales channels, he will takeresponsibility for systems delivery and customer support.

Eric Baron has a strong track record in senior sales and opera-tional management for multi-national technology companies

Goldstein

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EXECUTIVE MOVES

such as Ericsson, Motorola and Sagem. For the past 10 years hehas held sales and strategic direction roles that have seen himenter new market sectors, grow market share and turn aroundloss making divisions for leading European technology names.

Since joining Tandberg in December 2003, Baron has built astrong direct and business partner sales organization designedto support customers in local markets across continental Europe,the Indian sub-continent, the Middle East and Africa. In addi-tion, Baron and his team have been driving new business inemerging sectors such as on-demand and IPTV. A Frenchnational, Eric Baron holds an MBA from Institut Superieur DeGestion in Paris. He lives in the UK with his wife and son.

Tandberg is currently recruiting a new VP of Sales for EMEA toreport to Eric Baron.

MSV Appoints NTP Founder DonaldStout to Lead Patent ManagementStrategy

RESTON, Va. — Mobile Satellite Ventures (MSV) announcedon Thursday that it had reached an agreement with Donald E.Stout to lead MSV’s patent licensing and enforcement efforts.

MSV said Stout brings to MSV an extensive legal and businessexperience in the management and enforcement of patents and isthe founder and chief strategist of NTP. Stout prepared theoriginal NTP patents and has managed NTP’s successful patentlitigation strategy. Stout will report directly to Alexander Good,vice chairman and CEO of MSV.

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Stout said MSV has a substantial and growing portfolio ofissued and pending patent applications on a multitude of keyAncillary Terrestrial Component (ATC) technologies. “Myefforts will be directed toward securing the broadest and mostcomprehensive coverage possible from that portfolio andensuring a proactive approach to protect rigorously thesesubstantial assets,” he said.

MSV currently holds over 800 issued and 500 additionalpublished ATC patent claims to date. These 1300 issued andpublished claims span the breadth of all ATC network features,functions and system components (including the satellite,terrestrial, satellite gateways and end user equipment). MSV hasfiled over 100 additional patent applications in the U.S. alonesince 2001. Patent filings are in place not only in the U.S. but alsoin Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia and elsewhere.

Gemstar-TV Guide Appoints DavidNathanson Senior VP & GM, TVGNetwork

LOS ANGELES — Gemstar-TV Guide International, Inc. hasappointed David Nathanson senior vice president and generalmanager of its TVG Network (TVG), an interactive horseracingnetwork.

Nathanson is a long-time Fox Cable executive whose dutiesincluded the launch and operation of Fox College Sports, FoxReality and Fox Cable’s VOD businesses. He assumes leadershipof TVG from former TVG President Ryan O’Hara, who was namedpresident of TV Guide Channel in August. Nathanson will reportto Rich Battista, Gemstar-TV Guide’s chief executive officer, andwill be based in TVG’s Los Angeles office.

EXECUTIVE MOVES

SM

http://www.cpii.com/satcom

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NEW PRODUCTS

Satnews PublishersOffersPre-PublicationDiscount on the2006 InternationalSatellite Directory Satnews Publishers is offering a substantial pre-publicationdiscount for its industry standard International SatelliteDirectory’s 2006 edition. Now on its 21st edition, the Interna-tional Satellite Directory is the definitive guide to the worldwidesatellite industry with 2 volumes with 16 separate chapters andover 25,000 entries. The directory comes with a CD-ROMcontaining over 850 EIRP, G/T and SFD maps in full color. Thisbest selling 1,400 plus page reference source is a must for allsatellite professionals.

The Directory is a comprehensive guide to the people, thecompanies, the products, the services and the markets of thebooming $100 billion satellite industry. With changes of all kindsaffecting the industry constantly, there are literally thousands ofmoney-making and money-saving opportunities.The Directory gives you all the facts and figures you need, thenames and titles of key personnel, their addresses, telephone, faxand telex numbers, statistical data and a detailed description ofproducts and services. Everything you need to either mount amarketing campaign or to satisfy a purchasing need is containedin the Directory.

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Etisalat Internet Subscribers GetBroadband Internet in the Skies

Dubai — Etisalat and Connexion by Boeing said on Nov. 14 theywill jointly deliver high-speed in-flight WiFi connectivity toEtisalat customers.

Etisalat, through its Internet services and ICT unit eCompany,will be the first in the Middle East to offer high-speed wirelessInternet connectivity on all aircraft equipped with the Connexion

by Boeing high-speed in-flight Internet service. The service willbe available to customers beginning in January 2006.

Connexion by Boeing said dial-up and Al Shamil broadbandInternet customers of eCompany will be able to access theInternet on flight through their WiFi-enabled laptops. Theysimply enter their current user name and password on theConnexion by Boeing in-flight portal to access the service inflight. Both Dial Up Internet and Al Shamil users can pay for theirInternet surfing by receiving the Internet access charges in theirmonthly bill.

DataPath Unveils New PortableCommunications Solution

DULUTH, Ga. — DataPath, Inc., a global telecommunicationssystems integrator, has introduced the DataPath ET 2750QPortable for ground multiband communications, a fly-awayterminal that enables users to establish voice, data and videocommunications links quickly.

Data Path said the ET 2750Q provides communications in remoteareas where no information technology infrastructures exist andthat are inaccessible by larger mobile satellite earth terminals.

The product provides simultaneous dual carrier transmission infour bands – C, X, Ku and military Ka – thereby delivering a newlevel of flexibility and reliability for communications in extremeenvironments. To bridge the gap between old and new technolo-gies, the DataPath 2750Q is designed to enable complete internetprotocol (IP) connectivity – even when interfacing with legacysystems. It empowers the military to capitalize on its deployedcommunications systems while simultaneously supporting its“everything over IP” (EoIP) network architecture transformationinitiatives.

Designed for rapid deployment and quick teardown, theDataPath 2750Q ensures that soldiers don’t spend significanttime in vulnerable positions. A series of DataPath 2750Q configu-rations offer a single umbilical connection between cases toenable setup and operation in less than one hour, while alsoproviding additional flexibility for use in diverse environments.The entire DataPath 2750Q package can be transported in transitcases by soldiers on foot.

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NEW PRODUCTS

Telenor Satellite Services Unveils NewWeb-Based Account ManagementTool

OSLO, Norway & ROCKVILLE, Md. —Telenor Satellite Services, a subsidiary ofTelenor of Norway, launched on Nov. 23 “MySource,” a new online account managementtool giving Telenor users more control of theirsatellite communications budget.

This new value added business tool offerscustomers of Telenor Service Providers usingTelenor’s satellite products and services a fullrange of service management capabilities. MySource enables users to manage the use ofsatellite terminals and phones, select prepaidplans, automatically reload prepaid cards, andaccurately view current call data.

Telenor said My Source also features WebDial, an exclusive service from Telenor SatelliteServices, that allows users to set up calls toanywhere in the world via the Internet. WebDial permits users to manage a list or group ofnumbers that are accessed via an Internetbrowser to establish individual or conferencecalls. Also, because calls are routed through aTelenor global teleport, there is no specialinternational access dialing required.

“My Source is designed to help the customersof Telenor’s Service Providers manage theircommunications resources in real-time, savingthem time and money,” said Anders Kallerud,vice president of Telenor Satellite Services.

France Telecom MobileSatellite CommunicationsOffers Crew CallingPromotion

PARIS — France Telecom Mobile SatelliteCommunications is offering maritime customersa special crew calling promotion duringupcoming religious festivals and bank holi-days, enabling savings of up to 60 percent onprepaid calls.

France Telecom said the promotion will be available during thefollowing periods:

http://www.aaesys.com

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NEW PRODUCTS

Christmas & New Year, Lunar/Chinese New Year, and Easter byusing the Universal Happy Hour + card, part of Mobile SatelliteCommunications’ pre-paid crew calling range, designed tofacilitate the control of crew communications costs and reduceassociated administration.

France Telecom said the promotion has the easiest and mosttransparent costing system on the market for prepaid solutions.

Terayon Offers Ad Insertion Solutionfor Telco IPTV Services

SAN DIEGO — Terayon Communication Systems, Inc. hasannounced a ‘telco-optimized’ solution that allows telecommuni-cation service providers to create new advertising revenuestreams to support their ambitious rollout of IPTV (InternetProtocol Television) services.

At the TelcoTV Conference & Expo, Terayon demonstrated howits new DM 6400-IPTV Network CherryPicker(R) enables tele-communication carriers to seamlessly insert local advertisementsinto MPEG-4/AVC encoded digital video, the format most carriershave selected for their digital video service offerings.

Advertising is a lucrative opportunity for telco carriers, asevidenced by the significant revenue it has provided broadcastand cable operators for decades, Terayon said. U.S. cableoperators alone earned more than $4.3 billion in local advertisingrevenues in 2004 according to Kagan Associates.

In addition to advertising, telco carriers can also use the DM6400-IPTV for other important digital video applications. Theseinclude the aggregation of programming content from multiplesources, grooming customized channel line-ups by ‘cherrypicking’ programs from multiple programming sources, support-ing payload-aware program redundancy and emergency alert

http://www.arabsat.com

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NEW PRODUCTS

system (EAS) messaging, Terayon said.

“Terayon has been at the forefront of the digital video revolutionby enabling cable operators to deliver high definition andstandard definition programming and to generate revenuethrough advertising insertion,” said Kanaiya Vasani, VP ofMarketing. “Our new DM 6400-IPTV Network CherryPicker —which is ‘telco optimized’ with the new bundle of MPEG-4/AVCsoftware and Gigabit Ethernet connectivity — provides telecomcarriers with the field-proven ability to insert content andadvertising in the digital domain, without the complexity andcost of decoding and re-encoding processes.”

WorldSpace Satellite Radio Lights UpAhmedabad

SILVER SPRING, Md. — WorldSpace Satellite Radio, hasannounced the availability of its service in Ahmedabad, India,the seventh largest city in India with a population of nearly fourmillion, including over two million consumers who fall intoWorldSpace’s targeted listener base.

WorldSpace said the launch represents the company’s eighthcity serviced in India, resulting in market distribution available tomore than 50 million people across that country, including nearly29 million from the top three economic segments. This marketentry also adds 42 stores into WorldSpace’s retail points ofpresence.

“Making the WorldSpace experience accessible across India is aprimary business objective in 2005,” said Noah Samara, chairmanand CEO, WorldSpace. “We our excited that, with our eighth citylaunch, we continue to expand our presence and deliver anunmatched variety of local, national, and global content.”

With more than 40 radio stations that span a range of musicalgenres, news, sports and information, WorldSpace said itsoffering provides unsurpassed choice and digital-sound qualityto subscribers.

DigitalGlobe, Valtus Team to ProvideImagery Via Secure Web Services

LONGMONT, Colo. — DigitalGlobe and Canada-based ValtusImagery Services, a division of NorthWest Geomatics Ltd., haveentered into an initial three year data distribution partnership tobring high-resolution commercial satellite imagery to Valtuscustomers via the Valtus Website.

Valtus said its customers who subscribe to the company’s Vistaand Views online web services will now be able to accessDigitalGlobe’s 60-centimeter resolution QuickBird satelliteimagery in addition to Valtus’ already-large inventories of aerialdata.

Vista (Valtus Imagery Services Terrain Archives) is a convenientonline solution for users who require immediate access todownloadable, georeferenced mapping data. Views (ValtusImagery Enhanced Web Service) provides instant, secure accessto an extensive library of imagery that can be seamlesslyintegrated into mapping applications and geographic informationsystems (GIS).

In addition to delivering imagery from DigitalGlobe’s existingdigital ImageLibrary (including DigitalGlobe’s CitySphere citiesin Canada), DigitalGlobe said it plans strategic collections anddelivery of large-area imagery in British Columbia, Alberta andSaskatchewan.

Satellite Communications DeploysLow Cost Calling Services for U.S.Armed Forces

RICHARDSON, Texas — Satellite Communications Systems,Inc. (SCSI) has announced that it has deployed the CarriusCompleat-200 Service Delivery Gateway as part of the implemen-tation of its new contract to provide prepaid long distance andall other non-classified communications services for UnitedStates Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba (GTMO).

SCSI’s winning bid reduced the per-minute rate of prepaid longdistance calling cards by nearly 84%. In addition to over 8,000permanent residents, GTMO hosts many visiting naval and coastguard vessels, and their crews. To accommodate the permanentresidents and visitors, SCSI maintains a call shop with a largephone bank for those without permanent phone service to use tomake prepaid long distance calls.

SCSI said service members and their families may purchaseprepaid calling cards at a number of locations across the base.The cards are usable for inbound or outbound calls to the baseand are available to remote friends and family for low cost callinginto the base. In addition to prepaid calling, SCSI’s networkprovides wireless, wireline and broadband and dialup Internetaccess services for the base. SM

SATMAGAZINE.COM

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December 2005

COVER STORY

by Virgil Labrador

Top Stories of 2005

Oh what a year it was! And it’s not even over yet. As we goto press for this issue (Thanksgiving weekend) there are

still five weeks to go. Who knows what else could develop inthis exciting year which saw the once unthinkable merger oferstwhile rivals Intelsat and PanAmSat, creating the largestsatellite company in the world. 2005 is also the year where thesatellite industry worldwide hit a landmark $100 Billion in annualrevenues, according to the Satellite Industry Association.

To recap, here are the years’ top stories so far:

Intelsat-PanAmSat Merger

No two companies can be more different in the satellite industry.PanAmSat was the maverick company that first broke Intelsat’s20-year monopoly on international satellite communications inthe 80s. Intelsat was later to lose its number one position in theindustry in 2000 to Luxembourg-basedSES Global. With the announcement ofthe Intelsat purchase of PanAmSat for $3.2 Billion in August--it regained itspreeminent position in industry. Thecombined Intelsat-PanAmSat companywill have 53 satellites and almost $2Billion annual revenues--almost doublethat of the erstwhile largest satelliteoperator--SES Global.

However, as in any merger, the deal issubject to regulatory approval in theU.S.-- a process that could take up to ayear. In our annual CEO survey (seepage 19) SES Global CEO Romain Bauschdownplayed the impact of the Intelsat-PanAmSat merger overtaking them asthe largest satellite company in the world.He said that while Intelsat and PanAmSat will be busy with theirmerger they would be continuing to develop their business. Inthe same interview, Bausch did not discount the possibility oftheir going through “selective acquisitions.” Meaning don’t

Key Indicators Intelsat-PanAmSat Merger

Intelsat PanAmSat CombinedSatellites 28 25 53Annual Revenue $1.04 B $827 m $1.9 BillionEmployees 800 600 ?

count SES Global out yet. They may even buy some of theredundant assets of Intelsat and PanAmSat as a result of themerger, as SES Global CFO Mark Rigolle recently declared.

Launch of New Broadband Services

2005 saw the launch of new consumerbroadband services-- WildBlue in NorthAmerica last June and iPSTAR in Asia inAugust. For a long time, the industry hasbeen waiting for the broadband takeoff andWildBlue and iPSTAR may be thebeginning of a consumer boom in satellitedelivered services. WildBlue, a satellitebroadband internet service aiming at therural and SOHO market in North Americanot currently being served by terrestrialsystems, has had very encouragingnumbers of new subscribers in this nichemarket. The introduction of WildBlue in

North America has revived the market for VSATs in the U.S. with more competition to come.

The iPSTAR service run by Thailand’s Shin Satellite hopes to tapinto the large Asian market for broadband services. With arevived Asian market and huge areas not served by terrestrial

An iPSTAR dish in China (iPSTAR photo)

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December 2005

COVER STORY

providers, Asia could be the largest potential market in the worldfor broadband satellite services. However, unlike the relativelyhomogenous North American market, the Asian market is a veryfragmented and market spread over many countries with varyingregulatory and other barriers to entry.How iPSTAR will be able to navigatethis complex market and make asuccess out of with will bode very wellfor the Asian market.

Satellite’s Role in EmergencyCommunications Affirmed

The Tsunami disaster which occurredlate in December last year in Asia andthe devastating Hurricanes Katrinaand Rita in the U.S. once againdemonstrated the pivotal role ofsatellite technology in emergency anddisaster communications. Satellitecompanies stepped up to the plate andnot only provided much-need communications services, butdonated much of their personnel’s time, services and even cashand kind to relief efforts.

In many forums after the event, it was hoped that planers bemore proactive and pay more attention on installing thenecessary infrastructure to prevent future disasters instead ofscrambling after the fact. The performance of satellitetechnology under trying circumstances during the recentdisasters may have also made emergency and disastercommunications a viable market segment for satellite serivces.

The Formation of the United Launch Alliance

Major U.S. Launch service providers Boeing and LockheedMartin announced in May that they were creating a newcompany which will be a 50-50 partnership called “UnitedLaunch Alliance.” The de facto merger has been anaticipatedfor a long time in the struggling launch services market. The dealis stil subject to regulatory approval.

Meanwhlie, California-based startup SpaceX, which is aiming toprovide much lower costs for satellite launches, filed a lawsuit inthe U.S .District Court seeking an injunction against the merger,claiming it will stifle competiton in the U.S. market especially forU.S. goverment contracts. SpaceX plans to provide launchservices for about 30% of the cost of comparable launches. It’sFalcon 1 rocket has yet to launch a payload, however, havingjust postponed its maiden launch at presss for the midddle ofDecember.

Satellite images like this provided vitalsupport to releif efforts in the wake ofHurricane Katrina. (NASA photo)

With increasing competition in the launch service sector fromlower cost alterantives Baikonour in Kazakhstan and China,consolidation is inevitable. It will be interesting to see who wins

out eventually in this market as more newsatellies are being ordered and demand forlaunch services pick up.

Mobile Communications Goes Broadband

Leading mobile services provider Inmarsatlaunched two powerful I-4 satellites(Inmarsat 4) in 2005--one in March withcoverage for the Indian Ocean region andanother in November covering theAmericas. The satelites are part of aplanned four-satellite constellation that willcover the entire world, providing high-

speed broadband services to mobile communciations devices. The service is marketed under the name Broadband Global Area Network (BGAN).

The new Inmarsat satellites are envisioned to leapfrog thedevelopemnt of mobile broadband services. “The successfullaunch of the second I-4 satellite means that Inmarsat now hasthe world’s most sophisticated commercial network for mobilevoice and data services,” said Andrew Sukawaty, CEO andchairman of Inmarsat.

“It will support anunprecedented evolution ofour services - more thandoubling the bandwidthavailable to our mobileusers. It marks thebeginning of a new era forInmarsat, in which we expectto roll out a new range ofglobal mobile services togovernment, aid, andenterprise users,” he added.

So far, so good for Inmarsat.

HDTV to Stimulate Satellite Capacity Demand

HDTV continues to drive satelite transponder demand with thecontinued growth of HDTV services in North America andEurope (see Europe feature page 24). This was affirmed by a

Inmarsat-4 satellite

SATMAGAZINE.COM

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December 2005

COVER STORY

Virgil Labrador is the Managing Editor ofSatMagazine. He is responsible for all editorialactivities of Satnews worlwide. He recently co-authored the first book on the history of thesatellite communciations industry, HeavensFilled With Commerce..He can be reached at

[email protected]

study conducted by Northern Sky Research (NSR). “From aregional perspective, it is clear that North America and Japanhave led the way in ensuring that HD has finally emerged frombeing a niche service to a more widely accepted standard abdan eventual replacement for standard definition digitaltelevision,” said Christopher Baugh, President of NSR.

The growing demand from HD programmers for satellitecapacity is a welcome developemnt to the industry given thefalling transponder prices due to excess capacity. HD, with itshigh bandwidth requirments might just get the industry out ofthe glut in transponder capacity that it has been experiencingfrom some time now.

Satellite Radio Continues to Grow

Satellite Radio in the US continues itsphenomenal growth with market-leading XM RAdio hitting the 5million subscriber mark during theend of the third quarter of 2005. XMSatellite officials said they are ontrack with reaching their year-endtarget of 6 million subscribers.Meanwhile rival Sirius Satellite isnearing the two million subscribermark, making the total U.S. satelliteradio subscriber base to be 8 million by the end of 2005.

Satellite Radio is already reaching over 10 million listeners in theUS--the fastest meadium ever to reach that number of people.The success of satellite radio only goes too show the potentialin consumer satellite services.

Much to Be Optimistic

There certainly is a lot to be optimistic about the industryjudging from the events of 2005. The satellite industry isshowing great promise befitting the $ 100 Billion industry that ithas become.

SM

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FEATURE

DavidMcGladeCEO, Intelsat

The industry

stabilized quite abit in 2005. Thereare certain regionsthat are growingat a more rapidrate than others,

such as North America and parts ofEurope, Africa and the Middle East.

The PE interest in the industry in2005 sticks in my mind as being a verypositive development that we believe willhelp the industry grow and succeed. PEownership strengthens companiesbecause they instill greater financialdiscipline regarding the employment ofcapital and bring a fresh commercialperspective to an industry that in the pasthad been too technology centric or notconcerned enough with customer require-ments and financial returns.

Of course, we think Intelsat’sannouncement regarding the mergeragreement with PanAmSat is also one ofthe most significant events of the year.We believe that the merger will create astrong satellite company that will lead theindustry into a new era of technologicaladvancement and customer service.

Intelsat performed well in 2005. Asreported in our third quarter earnings, ourrevenues were up 10 percent over theprior year. Managed Solutions, the

portfolio of services that Intelsat launchedto address the needs of customers thatwanted hybrid solutions, has beenperforming extremely well. It has contin-ued to grow every quarter as new custom-ers come on board. As a matter of fact, ithas grown from zero to a business with anannual run rate of $120 million dollars(based on Intelsat’s third quarter results)in a little over three years. The success ofManaged Solutions has demonstrated thatIntelsat is very attuned to the changingand evolving needs of our customers andthat we are a market leader in introducingnew services.

We believe that Intelsat’s purchaseof PanAmSat will have a positive effect onthe industry as a whole; by creating astronger entity we are ensuring continuedinvestment in new satellites and innova-tive new services. Additionally, thecombined company would have a fleet of53 satellites, providing better back-upcapacity and flexibility for customers.

Operators will increasingly need to

work together with other companies inorder to continue to innovate and supportnew services and applications arising fromthe convergence of technology. The well-positioned satellite operators of the futurewill be those who continue to find newways to create customer value – be it withnew products and services, networkenhancements or geographic reach.

Private equity interest in the industrywas a change and a positive development.In Intelsat’s case, PE firms were attracted

by Intelsat’s young and flexible satellitefleet, knowledgeable employee base andsolid backlog of long-term contracts thatresult in attractive free cash flow. Webelieve that consolidation is beneficial tothe industry and to customers, who willhave access to more reliable capacity andsignificant reach, in addition to new andimproved products and technology.

RomainBauschCEO, SESGlobal

The vastmajority of SES’revenues isrelated to videodistribution, anarea where

market improvement in 2005 was high-lighted by the impressive number of newTV channels coming online, the continueddevelopment of interactive TV services,and last but not least the introduction ofHDTV in Europe. We continue to firmlybelieve that there are considerableopportunities out there for innovative,well-funded, and track-proven FSSsatellite operators, be it in standard digital,HDTV, IPTV, Interactive TV and, increas-ingly, in mobile satellite applications. Thesoccer World Cup 2006 in Germany willprovide the necessary impetus for HDTVin Europe; in the US we are resolutelyembarking on IPTV with AMERICOM’s IP-Prime platform; and in Germany ourBlucom technology provides unprec-edented user-friendliness for interactiveTV applications by using Bluetoothenabled mobile phones to display “redbutton” functions and provide a return-path.

The yet to be consumed take-over of

CEO Perspectives on 2005 andProspects for 2006

For our Annual Year in Review issue, we asked the views ofCEOs leading companies in the industry on how they saw2005 and what are the prospects for 2006. Excerpts:

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FEATURESPanAmSat by Intelsat is the most vividexample of renewed industry consolida-tion, a trend which was not leastinitiated by SES’ acquisition ofAMERICOM. SES is not overly con-cerned by the proposed merger. As amatter of fact it may even prove positivein so far as two of our main competitorswill be busy merging whereas we remainfirmly committed to developing ourbusiness, organically, but also throughselective acquisitions if and whenopportunities arise that correspond toour internal return on investment rates.2005 will furthermore be remembered asthe year when our largest competitors’new Private Equity owners were againseeking exit from the sector – somesuccessfully, as in the case of KKR’s“quick-flip” with PanAmSat, others sofar unsuccessfully, as illustrated byEutelsat’s failed IPO.

For SES, 2005 was the year of

resumed double-digit growth. As such itcompares favourably with 2004,although I must point out that that inour main markets, namely Europe forASTRA and the US for AMERICOM,the market conditions, for example withrespect to pressure on transponderpricing, were never as noticable as inother parts of the world.

SES intends to pursue its ongoingquest for double-digit recurring revenuegrowth, with the aim of mirroring thecompany’s strong financial performancein 2005. To that effect we are countingmainly on organic growth, which doeshowever not mean that we woulddisregard profitable selected acquisi-tions. I would like to point out that -between SES ASTRA, SES AMERICOMand SES SIRIUS - we are firmly commit-ted to launch another 7 satellites in thenext two years, and that this alreadyimpressive launch manifest is likely tofurther increase in the near future withnew SES initiatives in Canada, Mexicoand elsewhere. But in order to createadditional shareholder value, you willalso see us move down the value chain,

the aim being to stay not only the world’spre-eminent satellite operator, but todevelop into a full-fledged, end-to-end,managed solutions provider. To that effectyou may even see SES venture outsidepure satellite plays, f.ex. offering hybridsolutions combing satellite and terrestrialnetworks.

ChristianPinonCEO,GlobeCast

Globally,I cannot seeany marketimprovementfor the civiliansatellite

industry in 2005. If, on the positive side,satellite operators can benefit from thegrowing number of TV channels, from theglobalization of their audiences and fromthe progressive appearance of HDTV, onthe flip side, telephony, data, classical TVcontribution will continue to decrease, IPbackbone will remain a commoditybusiness, and IP access will continue tovanish. Is this a problem for my company?Not at all as GlobeCast is no longer a MHzreseller. I’ll come back to that later.

Having excellent relations withIntelsat and PanAmSat, if their future is tomerge, I am fine with that. Anyway itremains a 36 000 Km distant issue,involving mainly fleet optimization; as youknow, GlobeCast is not at that level, weremain in a very humble way “on theground”, dealing with value addedservices, relying on satellite and terrestrialsolutions for that, playing with MPEG andIP... for the sole benefit of our customers.

GlobeCast did great in 2005. We are awell known, appreciated and celebratedteleport operator, which is our historicalmission — we started the year as WorldTeleport Association’s 3rd largest rankedteleport operator, and our America CEODavid Sprechman, was named WTA’s 2005

Teleport Executive of the Year. We arealso now recognized as an innovativecompany in the field of multimediacontribution and distribution services. Inthe contribution area, I will mention theCable & Satellite International “Product ofthe Year” Award given to our WINGContent Exchange platform for “BestOutside Broadcast Technology”; in thedistribution area, the Store & Broadcastsolution chosen and praised by oureminent customer, E! Entertainment. I willalso underline the key technical role weplay for the Orange Group, aggregatingand repurposing some 60+ TV channelsfor live broadcast on cell phones.

2006 will not bring any disruption tothose trends: satellite operators will go onoptimizing their fleets, pruning them ormerging them... which is not my concern.GlobeCast will go on its way, consolidat-ing its content management policy andreaching dividends in terms of growth (4%target).

RobertMcCollumCEO, ComtechEF Data

Comtech EFData’s parentcompany,Comtech Tele-communicationsCorp., reported

record performance in fiscal year 2005,which was driven by strong demand forproducts across all three businesssegments. Net sales for fiscal 2005increased 38% over fiscal 2004.

A primary driver in the satelliteindustry over the past year was the userrequirement for additional value. Custom-ers are seeking cost-effective solutionsthat enable them to lower their total costof ownership and reduce space segmentcosts. Recognizing these needs, ComtechEF Data developed a bandwidth optimiza-tion tool to assist users in validating the

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FEATURESpossibilities for optimizing satellitebandwidth utilization and throughputusing realistic link and earth stationconfigurations. Our product developmenthas focused on delivering forward

error correction, modulation andbandwidth doubling technologies toenable rapid return on investment to berealized. And, our efforts of integratingour products with those offered by oursubsidiary, Memotec, and our sisterdivision, Comtech Vipersat Networks havebeen focused on providing solutions thatminimize operating expenses and maximizetransponder utilization.

We remain optimistic about ourbusiness and believe fiscal 2006 ispositioned to be another record year forComtech. We believe that the need fordefense and surveillance applications, theexpected long-term growth of Internettraffic and the need for emerging countriesto build modern communication systemswill result in increased satellite bandwidthdemands. Additionally, within the broad-cast sector, we expect to see the adoptionof DVB-S2 to take hold for satellite newsgathering (SNG) applications. Thebandwidth efficiencies offered by groundequipment implementing this new stan-dard will enable SNG customers to lowertheir total cost of ownership and minimizeoperating expenses.

Karl ClassenCEO, ND Satcom

We areclearly seeing thatthe rapidlygrowing econo-mies such asChina, India,Russia and MiddleEast are fueling

growth for satellite communications in thetelecom, broadcast, government anddefence markets.

Of course key events of the past 12months were clearly the Sumatra tsunami

in Asia and hurricanes Katrina and Rita inthe US which painfully helped us to realizeonce more that satellite communication isthe only means to rapidly restore urgentlyneeded communication infrastructure forthe relief and aid organizations. The roleof satellites is therefore crucial in our fastchanging and as it seems increasinglyunpredictable world.

2005 has been another good year forND SatCom, we increased considerablyour business compared to 2004. The NDSatCom Defence group worked very hardon the acquisition of the German ArmedForces phase II milsatcom program.Pursuing our globalization strategy, we areincreasing our local engineering andsystem integration capabilities in our mainregions Americas, China and Middle East.This will enable further customization andlocalization of our offerings for ourtelecom, broadcast, government anddefence customers. Reacting on therequest of our customers to offer end-to-end solutions we started to offer managednetwork services based on our technol-ogy. To capture the growing satcommarket in India, we have improved ourpresence through a joint venture. This willallow us to be more competitive in thismarket and to serve our existing custom-ers better. Also, we expanded marketpresence in Turkey, through acquisition.This will allow us to benefit from thegrowing demand in this region.

Regarding new products, wesuccessfully launched SkyVIP at the IBCconference in Amsterdam. This productcovers the demand for small high perfor-mance IP star based broadband applica-tions. For our mobile solutions weintroduced our fully automatic satelliteaccess systems which allow easy opera-tion for non technical professionals.

We see growing opportunities inmobile and fixed satcom solutions forspecific governmental applications. Forexample, in areas such as: disasterrecovery and relief. Here customers arefaced with demanding video or multisite

video conferencing requirements. NDSatCom’s experience and expertise asbroadband technology supplier, systemintegrator and system house shows to ouradvantage how we deliver these complexcustomized solutions.

Our fortunate challenge for 2006 willbe to manage organizational growth torealize our commitments to our customers.

Over the next year, I expect thesatellite industry’s main business driversstill to remain the same, with defence andgovernment solutions and servicescontinuing to sustain the market in thequest for national security and disasterresponse. In broadcast we will see howHDTV will get a further push through the2006 FIFA World Cup Germany.

JohnKealeyCEOiDirectTechnolo-gies

iDirectcontinues tosee improve-

ment in our business, and the market aswhole. We sold our 200th VSAT IP Hub in2005. That was a real landmark. It tookiDirect two and a half years to sell the first100 hubs, and just 10 months to sell thesecond, so I think we can demonstrate areal growth trend.

In general I think consolidation is apositive trend. This really won’t have anyimpact on end user demand, so larger,more financially secure providers can onlyhelp the industry. As long as there is stillsufficient competition to insure customerneeds are being met, and the industry as awhole continues to find new and innova-tive ways to utilize available satellitecapacity to create new solutions I don’thave any concerns about consolidation.

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FEATURESiDirect had a great 2005. We just

completed our 15th consecutive quarter ofrevenue growth, and we will end the yearalmost double last year’s revenues. Inaddition, iDirect won a number of honorsthis year including being named numberone in the Deloitte Virginia Technologyfast 50, number 19 nationwide, number 17on the Inc. 500 list, the Innovation &Technology of the Year by the ISCeAdvisory Board, and the Teleport Tech-nology of the Year by The World TeleportAssociation. To cap it all off, iDirect wasacquired by Singapore Technologies thisyear. This new partnership is going toopen a lot of doors for iDirect. 2005 isgoing to be a really tough act to follow,but we’re already looking forward to thenext 15 quarters of consecutive revenuegrowth.

2006 is going to be another banneryear for iDirect and the industry. I thinksome of the recent disasters around theworld have shown how vulnerabletraditional landline communications are,and the inherent benefits satellite offers. There is a great opportunity for thesatellite industry to help first responderswork more effectively, and help enter-prises around the world protect theircommunications from disaster. The key isgoing to be continuing current trends, i.e.delivering satellite access comparable tolandline quality, and increasing theefficiency of satellite bandwidth.

The biggest challenge the satelliteindustry faces right now is the continuedbuild-out of terrestrial broadband cover-age. The satellite industry won’t be ableto focus on markets where we are the onlygame in town much longer. Satellite willneed to identify more applications andsolutions where the benefits of satellitemake it a more practical or cost effectivesolution than competitive networks, andlook beyond traditional satellite applica-tions. Satellite connectivity offers anumber of great benefits. The ability toshare capacity over a huge geographicfootprint, more cost effective coverage inless populated areas and certain terrains,

speed of deployment, and security fromdisasters. It’s our job to identify theseopportunities and demonstrate them toour customers.

Paul Brown-KenyonCEO, MEASAT

2005 hasbeen an excitingyear for theindustry. Thisstatement isespeciallyrelevant to theAsia Pacific

where 2005 saw the continued develop-ment of broadcasting in the region – withboth cable and DTH showing goodprogress – and the launch of a number ofbroadband DTH services. Overall, marketdemand showed an improvement withtransponder pricing beginning to recover.

2005 has been a busy year forMEASAT. Over the course of the year wemade significant progress. Specifically:

• Earlier this year we moved ouroperations into a new facility —MEASAT Teleport and BroadcastCentre – just outside of Kuala Lumpur.The facility not only supports oursatellite control center, but alsosupports a range of customer ser-vices;

• During the course of the year wesaw continued progress on theMEASAT-3 program. Built by Boeing,this satellite will significantly increaseMEASAT’s ability to serve the DTHand Broadcasting segments acrossour core markets while expanding ourservices to South Asia and MiddleEast; and,• In November MEASAT signedwith Orbital Sciences to deliver theMEASAT-1R satellite. Schedule forlaunch at the end of 2007 the satellitewill provide an additional 12C Band 12

Ku Band transponders at our key 91.5location.

In addition to investments in newinfrastructure, our business also contin-ued to grow with our network operating ata utilization rate of around 80%. Over thecourse of 2005 we saw the continuingincrease in our customer base with anumber of new regional broadcastingcustomers including Asian Food Channel,GoalTV and JiaYu.

We are hoping that 2006 will see afurther development of the broadcast andbroadband businesses, leading to furtherstrengthening of demand. FromMEASAT’s perspective, the key chal-lenges will be around bringing the newsatellite into operation and supporting thegrowth of the DTH and BroadcastDistribution services.

The most significant changes in theindustry this year were at the structurallevel. The change in ownership of some ofthe major global operators has now leadonto the merger of two of these operators— Intelsat and PanAmSat. Thesestructural changes can be expected tocontinue in 2006 and 2007 with furtherconsolidation at the Global and Regionallevels.

Dr. DenisCurtin,COO, XTAR,LLC

As 2005draws to aclose, thereappears to bea definite andvery encour-

aging up tick in the business. Particularlycompared to the depression of theprevious few years. Without question themost significant event of the year was theIntelsat/PanAmSat announcement, whichwill have far reaching consequences onour industry.

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FEATURES

Closer to home, the launch of ourfirst satellite, XTAR-EUR, was a signifi-cant development for us in 2005. Not justfor our company, but also for the DoD andcivil government user community. As theonly commercially available X-bandcapacity dedicated to U.S., NATO andAllied governments, and the first toprovide dual polarization in this fre-quency, XTAR-EUR will provide muchneeded bandwidth to our own and Alliedmilitary forces while supporting develop-ment of “comms-on-the-move”, Manpacksand airborne relay terminals.

Other key events in 2005 were theincreasing role of private equity firms inthe satellite business and the successfullaunch of the Wild Blue and Spacewayservices. However, it’s still early days andthe promise of true consumer broadbandhas yet to play out.

The successful launch of our first

satellite in February got our year off to anexcellent start. After entering service inApril, we conducted a series of demon-strations with XTAR-EUR that more thanexceeded expectations of the U.S. Armyand Air Force personnel who participatedin these demos. For example, in one ofthese demos, the Army independentlyvalidated a previously unheard of datarate of 105 Mbps using a ground mobileforce TSC-85C tactical SATCOM terminalcoupled with the Army’s 16’ Light-WeightHigh Gain X-band Antenna (LHGXA).This terminal is normally limited to 1.2Mbps by DISA due to current operationalconstraints on the current DSCS satellites.

By year’s end, we had secured leasecontracts from the Spanish and DanishMinistries of Defense, and the U.S.Department of State’s Diplomatic Telecom-munications Service Program Office (DTS-PO).

As the only commercial provider ofX-band services, we see tangible opportu-nities ahead for XTAR in 2006, starting

with the first quarter launch XTAR-LANTwhich will extend our X-band reach fromDenver all the way east to Singapore.

Already the U.S. military is experi-encing a shortage of X-band capacity.Reports of delays or budget shortfalls inseveral key DoD programs, such asWideband Gap Filler, MUOS or T-Sat, willonly add to this X-band capacity deficit.According to DISA reports, there areapproximately 85 transponders (C, Ku &Ka band) on lease, totaling over 4 GHz ofcapacity. By comparison, XTAR-EUR’s 12transponders, each capable of 200 Mbps,could provide a total 2.4 Gbps - or almosthalf of DISA’s capacity.

The biggest challenge facingcompanies like XTAR and others sellingcapacity to the military is the U.S.Government’s continued reliance on shortterm contracts. XTAR shouldered theentire financial risk of building, launchingand operating its system based on theGovernment’s stated demand for addi-tional bandwidth. However, unless anduntil the Government is willing to enterinto pre- or long term contracts, satelliteoperators in general will be unwilling tojeopardize capital investment on specula-tive satellites, leading to an even greaterbandwidth capacity deficit in the longterm.

For the industry in general, we willbegin feeling the full effects of theIntelsat/PanAmSat merger and other M&Aactivity in 2006. The ripple effect fromfewer operators will make the market lesscompetitive, while satellite manufacturers,launch providers and equipment makersand suppliers will start feeling the pinch.

Again, the over arching change

taking place in our business is thegrowing influence of private equity firmsand the move toward consolidation ofoperators and perhaps even suppliers.While making for a tougher competitivemarket, this shrinking of the market should

also bring about great efficiencies of scaleand economy.

StevenTellerPresidentIOTSystems,LLC

2005was a muchbetter yearfor the

industry. It is clear that the many satel-lites launched in the 1990s are now due tobe replaced. Consequently I see increasedwork for the satellite manufacturers and anup tick in capital equipment expenditures.

Our business has been growing

steadily for the last few years and 2005was a particularly good year for IOTSystems.

I see continued improvement

throughout all sectors in 2006. As theindustry rebounds and emerges strongerand healthier, we expect to see stepped upefforts to reduce costs and increaseefficiencies, particularly in view of thegrowing role of private equity investors inthe business. We anticipate continuedgrowth opportunities for our business asthese PE firms look to outsourcing as aneffective cost management tool.

We definitely saw an increase in

orders and order activity. I think there willbe a greater focus on core businessstrengths and a move to outsource non-core support capabilities in 2006. Thistrend toward cost management, increasedcompetency and operational efficiencieswill benefit all industry sectors. SM

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FEATURE 2005: What a Spectacular Year for Europe!

by Chris Forrester

The satellite industry has had anexciting time these past few months.The current round of consolidation

between Intelsat and PanAmSat is just thelatest bout of “eat, or be eaten” mantrathat we have all grown used to. And,seemingly, there’s more to come. SESGlobal’s CFO Mark Rigolle told a Novem-ber conference hosted by MorganStanley, that SES was interested in lookingat any of the Intelsat or PanAmSat orbitalassets that might come up for sale oncethe deal closes.

“They have some slots that wouldhelp us,” Rigolle told journalists inBarcelona. “We will grow by acquisition ...if we can find suitable ones to fill certaingaps in our global coverage,” he said.Rigolle added that SES also had its eye onincreasing its stake in Germany’s NDSatcom, in which it currently holds a 25%stake, or might even buy Turksat inTurkey or Greece’s Hellas Sat. “These areby no means transformational deals thatwould wreck our balance sheet for fiveyears,” he said. Rigolle declined to

comment on thereport that SESGlobal was in themarket to buy NewSkies Satellites, buthe admitted thatNSS’ coverage of theIndian Ocean regionand Latin Americawere of interest.

SES Global’sshare price at theend of Novemberwas aroundEUR13.40, butMorgan Stanley ispredicting a target

price of EUR16.50, which is optimisticdespite SES Global’s strong performanceand expectations of double-digit growththis next couple of years. But the reason isEchostar, and a strong hint from the bankthat Echostar will give a huge slice ofbusiness to Americom that’s worth, at theend of the day, four new satellites. “A riskspecific to SES is that we are incorrect inour assumption that Echostar will contractall of the new capacity identified above.We note that •1.5/share of our price targetof •16.5/share is attributable to these newEchostar contracts,” said the bank.

But if Intelsat+PanAmSat are busyplanning their future lives together, andSES Global is looking for its next meal, andperhaps it is fair to say that New Skies willsee itself sold, unfortunately the world’s“third-largest” satellite operator, Eutelsat,is having to lick its wounds and prepare tofight another day.

Eutelsat embarrassingly pulled itsInitial Public Offering (IPO) on October 27.

Far from being an independent playerEutelsat might now be prey to the wolvesand sharks, and thus with an uncertainfuture. A recent interview with CEOGiuliano Berretta, and senior shareholderEurazeo’s Gilbert Saada, provided thedistinct message that it was “business asusual” at the Paris-based operation. Butcancelling its IPO (originally the IPOplanned to see between 38% and 51% ofEutelsat’s equity transferred into publichands. Assuming a mid-point offering ofaround •16.50 a share, this would haveseen a net •824m in proceeds, enough toreduce debt as well as boost acquisitionpossibilities for non-organic expansion.

It wasn’t to be. Eutelsat’s IPO wasoriginally timed to take place on October25, but it became clear that investmentinterest was less than buoyant, and thissentiment not helped by a very nervousmarket. Consequently, Eutelsat’s owners(Eurazeo, Spectrum Equity Investors,Texas Pacific Group, Cinven and GoldmanSachs Capital Partners) changed theirminds, and dropped the IPO offering priceby 22%, thereby granting investors asignificant – and very tempting – discountto the original offering price, and byimplication suggesting that incominginvestors could expect a handsome profitpost-float. Again, it was not to be.

While the market gossip suggestedthat the offer was 100% subscribed, theIPO was pulled. But the strong messagefrom CEO Giuliano Berretta, and at leasttwo of his major investors, was that theywere fearful that Eutelsat’s stock wasalmost bound to fall, and perhaps dramati-cally, on its first trading day – hence thedecision to cancel the offering.

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FEATURES

It’s long been said that “a rising tideraises all boats”, but Eutelsat’s troublesprove that the tide also goes out! SES

from Eutelsat’s difficulties. Seemingly, atleast some of the investors who HADplanned to invest in Eutelsat were left withtheir cash burning a hole in their pockets,and plumped instead for SES Global as along-term investment vehicle.

Eutelsat’s initial indicative value ofEUR16.50 (mid-price) suggested a breath-taking 24% premium over SES Global.There are two ways to look at this, onebeing that SES Global’s share price is thebest bargain in town (which it might wellbe) or that Eutelsat’s valuation is simplymake believe. One banker’s report says itdoesn’t believe Eutelsat – even though itis a perfectly sound business – deserves apremium over SES, which has:

• IPO remains an interesting option, but nota ‘must have’

• Most sponsor/investors taking a longer-term view• Core business margins/back-log remain sound• Debt is manageable• `Months, or more, until a fresh attempt• Company now gets back to basics• Fundamental valuations remain strong• (but initial IPO offer price was too high)• Market sentiment must change before fresh attempt• CEO Giuliano Berretta stays

Global, for example,saw its own stockprice suffer badlythroughout thisperiod, hitting a •12low, at the timeEutelsat pulled theplug on its offering.But the following day(Oct 28) saw apositive bounce forSES to •12.63, and asubsequent steadyrise to about •13.40over the following

days, although still well below its •14.18high back on September 2nd. In fact, SESGlobal seems overall to have benefited

Where next for Eutelsat?

http://www.ilc.com/satellite.html

http://www.ilc.com/landingpages/satmag052505.html

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FEATURES

[ Eutelsat - Satellite fleet by age* Satellite End of life Launch Ownership Position # TranspHotBird 1 Apr-06 Mar-95 Owned 13°E 16 Telecom D2 Oct-06 Aug-96 Leased 8°W 11 Express 3 Jul-07 Jun-00 Leased 11°W 5 W2 Jul-09 Oct-98 Owned 16°E 27 HotBird 2 Oct-09 Nov-96 Owned 13°E 20 Sesat 1 Jan-11 Apr-00 Owned 36°E 18 Telstar 12 Oct-11 Oct-99 Leased 15°W 4 HotBird 4 Jan-12 Feb-98 Owned 13°E 16 HotBird 3 Jul-12 Sep-97 Owned 13°E 20 W6 Jul-12 Apr-99 Owned 21.5°E 28 EuroBird 2 Apr-13 Oct-98 Owned 25.5.°E 16 Atlantic Bird 1 Jan-14 Aug-02 Leased 12.5°W 19 EuroBird 3 Jul-14 Sep-03 Owned 33°E 20 Sesat 2 Jan-16 Dec-03 Leased 53°E 12 W1 Jul-16 Sep-00 Owned 10°E 28 W4 Oct-17 May-00 Owned 36°E 31 W5 Jan-18 Nov-02 Owned 70.5°E 24 HotBird 6 Apr-18 Aug-02 Owned 13°E 32 EuroBird 1 Apr-18 Mar-01 Owned 28.5°E 24 Atlantic Bird 2 Oct-18 Sep-01 Owned 8°W 26 Atlantic Bird 3 Oct-18 Jul-02 Owned 5°W 37 W3A Jul-22 Mar-04 Owned 7°E 44 Eutelsat II F2 Inclined orbit Jan-91 Owned 48°E 16 *Source: Eutelsat

Eutelsat - Profit and loss account, June 2005-09E* Year end June (€m) 2005 2006E 2007E 2008E 2009E Sales 750 772 794 833 871 % Change (1.3%) 2.9% 2.8% 5.0% 4.6% COGS (49) (51) (52) (53) (54) Gross profit 702 721 742 780 817 *Data: Company reports/bank estimates

• better growth prospects,• greater exposure to the rise of

HDTV,• a higher return on capital

employed,• stronger visibility, and• a more attractive valuation

“We know the true value of[Eutelsat] better than anyone,” saidGilbert Saada, of Eurazeo. “But we werenot successful in convincing the market,or even the bankers who work for us whowere not convinced!” Indeed, calmerheads now seem convinced that thestrategy, which eventually priced Eutelsat

at around •12.00-•13.50, was inthe right range and anythinglower represented too severe adiscount for the business.

While, on the one hand, itmight be said that Eutelsat’sprospects now look tougher, atleast in the short term. There’slittle of Berretta’s long-antici-pated financial flexibility togrow the business – or even cutdebt. However, on the otherhand, and as Mr Berretta – andothers - reminded us, thecompany’s core businessremains absolutely sound, with

http://www.globecast.com

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FEATURES

superb EBITDA, cash-flow the envy ofmany and a very robust order book.Eutelsat’s October looked like a catastro-phe for all concerned, but perhaps overthe longer term history will take a kinderview of events.

But there’s one definite upside inEuropean satellite activity this next year,and it’s four little letters that are bringinghuge smiles to SES Global AND Eutelsat’sfaces. It’s HDTV. Imagine the scenario.Discovery, for example, launches itsDiscovery HD Theatre channel over the

US, having to invest in content, of course,and in two feeds (West Coast, East Coast)and make sure its signals are available tocable operators nationwide. Europe hasten ‘major’ markets, each with specificlanguage variations and different satellitesserving many of those markets. SES

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FEATURES

serves Germany and the UK, but usesdifferent orbital locations to reach thosecountries. Result: Discovery, bless them,has to buy two sets of HD capacity fromSES Astra. Add in Italy, and it’s a thirdsatellite (Eutelsat). Should Discovery wantto attack the Canal Plus French market itmight offer a language track on an existing‘German’ feed from Astra, but if it wants tofeed signals into Canal Plus’ fierce rivalTelevision Par Satellite, it has to go ontoEutelsat. Confused? You should be. Butadd in Scandinavia, and it’s anothercouple of satellites. Add in Spain, and it’sanother. No wonder European satelliteplayers are rubbing their hands with gleeat the prospects of European HDTV.

And HDTV is booming. Moreover, ithas all happened in the last 12 months.Flat-panel sales (Plasma and LCD) are theone bright spot in an otherwise dull retailsector. BY December 31st there will be atleast 7, and perhaps, 9 full HDTV chan-nels.

The UK’s BBC, and Britain’s maincommercial network ITV, have bothconfirmed they’ll have high-definitionchannels on air next summer. Britain’smain commercial broadcaster, ITV, said itwould have a high-def test channel on airnext summer in time for the soccer WorldCup. Simon Fell (Controller, emergingtechnologies, at ITV) told a Royal Televi-sion Society (RTS) meeting it would havea test service next summer. “This all takestime, but we will show a range of program-ming in HD, and that will include every-thing we have the rights to show.” ITVshares with the BBC the rights to showthe World Cup soccer games over the UK.However, there’s no confirmation that ITVwill be on satellite. Fell told us that asatellite HD signal was materially expen-sive, and while there was no doubt thatITV would transition to satellite over time,next summer’s transmissions were more ofa technical trial. “We are testing, forexample, different encoders with different

set top boxes. For bandwidth efficiency itis expected we will deploy MPEG4 H264 orAVC encoding.”

Fell’s comments came just hoursafter the BBC’s director of television, JanaBennett announced that the BBC wouldlaunch a similar ‘test’ service on DTT inLondon next summer in time for the WorldCup, but the BBC’s “trial” would extend toa longer-form service on satellite where itwould simulcast its existing BBC1 main-stream entertainment channel in HD, atleast during prime-time. The signals wouldalso be available to the UK’s cable, andDSL broadcasters. “I hope the World Cupwill be one of the treats,” said Bennett. “Iam keen to see the consumer responseand to see a channel permanently on airwith BBC1 as the premium channel assoon as possible.”

Responding later to questions,Bennett said the World Cup would play amajor role in marketing HD to Britishviewers. She said the BBC wanted tobroadcast next summer’s World Cup on“all possible platforms” - including Sky.

Unsaid were are a bundle of restric-tions faced by the BBC. First up, it isforbidden to launch new services orchannels ahead of its formal CharterRenewal next year. Hence, the ‘tests’ and‘trials’ services. Its second problem is itscurrent submissions to the governmentcovering proposals for an increase in theBBC’s licence fee, and with frequentmentions of the costs of digital conver-sion following the UK’s analogue switch

off scheduled to be completed by 2012.Thirdly, there’s the BBC’s own internaltimetable, which saw a steady transition tohigh-def over time and concluding in 2010.As one voice told us, “The BBC is like theoft-quoted supertanker. There’s no way itcan respond that quickly to what’shappening in the market. It takes years,not months, to turn this ship around.”

But News Corp-backed BSkyB is –not for the first time – already in theHDTV dock. A test ‘barker’ channel isalready on air, and a full service of around10-12 channels will launch early in 2006.SES, certainly in Europe, has a very strongposition in HDTV, and is adding 10 extratransponders to the UK market. Bauschsays that by the end of 2007 his Astracolleagues are comfortable talking about10 transponders-worth of HDTV business(about 40 channels), Looking a littlefurther out, Bausch said they wereanticipating that by 2010 there would bearound 100 HD channels on Astra alone,or around 20-25 transponders. Not to beoutdone, News Corp’s Italian operation(Sky Italia) booked a spectacular EUR1bn-worth of transponder capacity for the next20 years from Eutelsat, much of it ear-marked for HDTV.

London-based Chris Forrester, a well-known broadcastingjournalist is the Editor for Europe, Middle East and Africafor SATMAGAZINE. He reports on all aspects of theindustry with special emphasis on content, the business oftelevision and emerging technologies. He has a uniqueknowledge of the Middle East broadcasting scene, having interviewed atlength the operational heads of each of the main channels and pay-TVplatforms. He can be reached at [email protected]

SM

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As in other parts of the world,satellite business grew in LatinAmerica in 2005. Among the major

activities in the region this year include:

E-Gov Projects using Satellitecommunications VSAT terminals continueto growth. New government projects arein development in Argentina, Brazil andVenezuela to launch new satellites fordefense, social, meteorological, imagingand air traffic control applications. Satmexis planning to launch Satmex VI afterreorganizing their finances in Mexicowhere they requested an agreement withits creditors.

E-Gov Projects showed promisinggrowth in Latin America during 2005where Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Chile,Mexico and Venezuela were the leaders interm of number of VSAT terminals thatreached during 2005 more than 30,000VSATs installed. The ITU issued a reportduring 2005 about Global E-Gov readiness(composite indices of readiness based inweb site assessment, telecommunicationsinfrastructure and human resourceendowment). In Latin America the top 10countries considered to be E-Gov readywere: Chile, Mexico, Argentina, Brazil,Uruguay, Colombia, Peru, Panama,Venezuela and Guyana. (See full report athttp://www.unpan.org/egovernment4.asp)

Below are the main E-Gov projects inthe region:

In Brazil the E-Gov project that usedVSAT solution is called GSAC. After anew bid was issued to expand the projectduring late 2004 Comsat International wasthe winner. The project had the goal toexpand the Internet reach to 5,500 sites

Latin America 2005 -- Year in ReviewBy Bernardo Schneiderman

plus VOIP application. Additionally of theInternet Access the project had a require-ment to delivery 2,200 PC to the sites.During 2006 GSAC is planning to reachmore 5,500 point of presence. BesidesGSAC project the Brazilian Government isplanning for 2006 a new project called PCconnected. The project is planning toprovide low cost PC’s to more than 10million people and more than 30,000schools sites. If PC connected is imple-mented satellite and VSAT solution will beadded in more than 10,000 sites to provideInternet in remote and rural schools sites.The Brazilian Government is one of thecountry interested in the MIT Media Lablow cost laptop computer project that isplanning to bring a laptop PC to themarket with a price range of US$ 100.00per unit during 2006

Colombia is taking E-Gov projectswith a very broad focus. Starting toprovide during the last five years ruraltelephony where satellite was the maintechnology for almost 10,000 sites. TheColombian program is called Compartel.During 2004 Colombia started a newproject to provide Internet access. After acompetitive bid at the end of 2004 two

major providerdeployed during 2005around 4,800 sitesusing VSAT’s. For theperiod of 2006-2007Compartel plan toreach an additional9,200 sites. ColombiaGovernment iscommitted to use theInternet to reach allvillages and communi-ties to break thedigital divide and

VSAT and Satellite will be for sure thecommunications connectivity.

Satellite Projects in Brazil, Argentinaand Venezuela are coming to reality during2005.

Venezuela was the first country tofinalize the purchase of the ChineseSatellite called now Venesat 1. Thesatellite, which will have a useful life of 15years, will be launched into space during2008. The equipments acquisition is withinthe agreement between the VenezuelanScience and Technology Ministry and theChinese company Great Wall. Thecontract stipulates the participation andtraining of 90 Venezuelan professionals inthe satellites construction. NurisOrihuela, investigation and innovationvice-minister pointed out that the agree-ment represents the country’s entrance tosatellite technology. Base in the officialnews the Venezuelan professionalsparticipating in the construction of thesatellite guarantees the countries au-tonomy in satellite communications.Venesat 1 will provide telecommunicationsservices including telephony, TV, Radio,Internet and teleconference services and

Compartel program is being utilized in a remoteschool in Colombia

REGIONAL UPDATE

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among the main applications are distancelearning, and telemedicine. The Venezu-elan Government informed during thecontract of Venesat 1 that another satellitefor specific function of imaging andmonitoring the Venezuelan territory waspart of the agreement with the ChineGovernment.

Argentina announced during 2005 aplan to build a satellite in country in 2009.Argentina is planning to use ChineseKnow How. The Argentine presidentNestor Kirchner signed a project for theestablishment of ArSat during the end ofJuly. The Argentine company will operatetwo small satellites manufactured in thecountry, the first of which will be in orbitin 2009. The satellites to be used by ArSatmust be manufactured in Argentina by theState technological company Invap. Invaphad already built land observation units.Invap assured that the only task that itwill give to third parties would be thecommunications modules provision. Theproject would demand US$ 220 million forthe construction and launching of a twotons satellite and 18 transponders (12 inKu band and 6 in C- Band). The target isto build two satellites, although there areno dates for the second satellite at thistime. ArSat will use Satellite 81 Westorbital slot that has coverage all over theAmerica region. The orbital slot wasremoved from Nahuelsat in 2004 since it

did not launch it in the time periodplanned.

The Brazil SGB project that is calledBrazil Geostationary Satellite Projectbecame one of the major projects in LatinAmerica. The project is part of the BrazilSpace Program where the mission is tolaunch 3 geostationary satellites. Theproject is coordinated by the Ministry ofDefense and plan to launch 2 RedundantSatellites with transponders in L, C, Kuand X-Band and a third satellite formeteorological and image sensors. Thetarget of the project is to become opera-tional in 2009. The life cycle of the 2satellites will be planned for 15 years andthe third one for 10 years. The BrazilianSatellite Program has been developed byCTA (Centro Tecnico Aerospacial-Aerospace Technical Center), ATECHFoundation and CPQD (Centro dePesquisa e Desenvolvimento – Researchand Development Center). During themonth of October was a decision amongthe government entities to pass thecontrol of the project for the BrazilianSpace Agency AEB to implement theproject in 2006.

The expectation of the program is toexpand and improve the surveillance inthe Amazonian region (Size of the Euro-pean Continent) and monitoring the airand maritime traffic in the BrazilianTerritory. Additionally the other benefitsare:

• Control the Air and Maritime Space`̀ direct without the need of foreign

operators• Develop the Local Space Industry• Potential to share the Satellite

services with other Latin countries• Expand the Surveillance in the

Amazonian Region• Expand the surveillance in the

Coastal Area and the Ocean limits ofBrazil

• Improve the meteorological forecastfor several economic sector in Brazil(Agriculture industry, Tourism,Transport, Power Distribution andother main sector of the economy)

• Improve the Logistic of the NationalGuard in case of Natural Disaster

Mexico Satellite Operator finally ison the way to launch Satmex VI during2006. After an agreement with the credi-tors of Satmex in Mexico, Satmex willcommence an ancillary proceeding in theUnited States seeking an order of the USBankruptcy Court recognizing and givingeffect to the Mexican Concurso Mercantil(Equivalent of Chapter 11 in the USA).

Last June Satmex filed a Mexicanbankruptcy proceeding, known as aConcurso Mercantil, under the laws ofMexico, and later moved to dismiss theinvoluntary Chapter 11 petition in the U.S.The Creditors also have the right to comeback to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court seekingrelief if Satmex 6 is not launched by June30, 2006. SM

$100 Laptop PC – MIT Media LabProject

REGIONAL UPDATE

Bernardo Schneiderman has over 30 years of experience inthe Satellite & Telecom Industry. He is the BusinesssDevelopment and Technical Director of Space & TelecomDivison for Futron Corp based in Irvine, CA. USA and isresponsible for the West Coast and the International Market. He has globalexperience in Marketing and Eng. Consulting , Sat and Telecom Carriers,VSAT and Telecom Manufacturers. Mr Schneiderman has been writing for theindustry during the last 12 years and can be contacted [email protected]

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VIEWPOINT

The year 2005 draws to close a periodthat established a new baseline forthe satellite communications

industry. GEO satellites are definitely “in”as the foundation for extended wirelessaccess from remote areas and as themeans to deliver digital content in anyform to consumers and businesses alike.Annual revenue reached $100 billion forthe first time, placing commercial satellitecommunications in proximity to highlyvisible sectors like movie-making and themarket cap of Google. We are also poisedfor new opportunities that extend wirelessreach from short range base stations tobroad reaches of land and sea, as well asin the air. In this article, I review the keydevelopments of the past year andconsider how things look going forward.

Our first notable event occurred onJanuary 14th, the day I arrived in Honolulufor the Pacific TelecommunicationsCouncil (PTC) Conference. Upon arrival atmy hotel, I received a phone call from afriend at the National Weather Service inHawaii informing me that the Intelsat 804satellite in the center of the Pacific Oceanat 180 had ceased to operate. This, in turn,had taken down an extensive network oflinks among Pacific islands as well asconnections to North America and Asia. Itwas another wake-up call to users whodepend on satellites, highlighting thecontradiction between this technology’scertainty in orbit and vulnerability tofailure. Other satellites were quicklybrought on line to restore services andmost users were back in operation in amatter of days (this was not universal assome locations had to revert to old,reliable HF radio for months).

Satellites at the Midpoint ofThis Millennium’s First DecadeBruce ElbertPresident, Application Technology Strategy, Inc.

Even with the high-visibility affordedsuch events, the reliability record ofcommercial GEO satellites from Intelsatand others remains high and the failurerate overall continues to drop. This isevident from a simple review of satellitehistory between 1997 and 2005, illustratedbelow. Out of the total of 170 satelliteslaunched during this period, only 10experienced total or near total failure.That’s a failure rate of 6%, far less thanthe design criteria used by satellitemanufacturers. I realize, of course, thatsuch statistics are nice but failure of thesatellite you’re on feels more like 100%.For this reason, every critical satelliteapplication demands a flexible backupstrategy, making alternate satellitecapacity reachable by repointing dishes.

The critical value of satellite serviceswas clearly demonstrated during thehurricane season, as discussed in theNovember issue of SatMagazine.com.Furthermore, the US Army has decidedthat GEO satellites can offer the primarylink of interconnecting battle-fieldnetworks at all force levels. According tothe November 2005 issue of Signalmagazine, published by the Armed ForcesCommunications and Electronics Associa-tion, traditional land-based radio linkshave proved inadequate to serve “Net-work-Centric” forces that cannot stoplong enough to install cables and erecttowers. Rather, “warfighers … movedquickly, (and) chose not to stop and reliedinstead on … satellite communications(SATCOM)”. This now-familiar refrain

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VIEWPOINT

further endorses the military’s role forGEO satellites in general and commercialKu-band transponders in particular. Thisin and of itself is a major development forour industry and will encourage greaterinnovation in the area of flexible broad-band systems using compact dishes thatmay be operated by administrative ratherthan technical personnel. There is a verybig push as well to maintain these linkswhile a military unit is “on the move”,something which is technically achievablebut still expensive to make broadlyavailable to troop units.

The consumer-related satellite sectoris bigger and better than ever, withsatellite TV a major player on the sub-scription side of the business and satelliteradio now hitting 10 million listeners in theUS. In a past article, I discussed that theonly technical limitation to these systemsis by the radio spectrum allocated to thisservice. This will be overcome through theuse of improved audio compression andhigher-powered satellites that could belaunched in a few years. In both of theseindustry segments, satellites, while

individually costly, are sustainablebecause of the large quantity of payingsubscribers. Satellite radio is perhapsunique in that its offering is much differ-ent from traditional AM and FM radio,both in terms of content and mobility.

The technologies and services thatempower digital content delivery forenterprise-level applications are ready forprime time. In addition, the cost ofdeveloping this type of private network isjustifiable for a variety of uses. Asdiscussed at the recent SatCon Expo inNYC, familiar brand-names like HomeDepot, State Farm Insurance andWachovia Bank have moved to a content-delivery rather than linear broadcastingmode. These satellite-smart enterprisesknow full well the benefits of a GEOplatform and need no convincing. Yet, themajority of corporations haven’t graspedthese benefits for accurate presentation ofa visual message at all sites and for avariety of purposes. An issue has beenthe lack of familiarity and comfort withsatellite by main-stay IT managers whoend up with network responsibility. Such

individuals will buyanything that saysCisco on it but havenever dealt withleading technologyand serviceproviders in ourindustry. Perhapsthis will changewith the recently-announcedacquisition ofScientific Atlanta, aleading set-top boxsupplier, by Ciscoitself.

Traditionaltwo-way VSATsales have beenbrisk, thanks to theavailability termi-nals with higher

data rates at lower prices. Leadingsupplier Hughes Network Systemsintroduced the DirecWay 7700 terminalwith a much-elevated capability to servicehigh-end data communications applica-tions, and iDirect continued to dominatethe government broadband sector. On theconsumer side, WildBlue entered servicein June with Ka-band satellite dishes andis reported to be achieving good results inthe market. Once again, this segment ispositioned for growth, this time benefitingfrom a greater appreciation of the value ofsatellite links both as primary and backupconnections.

Mobile communications is growingin importance, particularly from a broad-band perspective. Inmarsat put their firstInmarsat 4, launched last March, intoservice for the Broadband Global AreaNetwork (BGAN), a service capable of halfa megabit per second into a terminal thesize of a laptop computer. The satelliteplaces hundreds of small L-band beamson the earth in the same manner as acellular network; high bandwidth from

Reference: http://www.msvlp.com/nextgen/news/_pdf_launch_/ATCREVNOV16.pdf

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VIEWPOINT

small terminals is a consequence of thehigher RF performance afforded a 9 by 12meter deployable antenna. The on-boardprocessing payload from EADS, similar inconcept to those on the Thuraya andACeS satellites, provides flexible means ofgathering uplink user data flows anddelivering them to the Internet and otherterrestrial networks. A second Inmarsat 4satellite was launched successfully onNovember 8th and will add coverage of theAmericas. An additional Inmarsat 4satellite will fill out a global footprint andreplace satellites that served previousmobile users. The BGAN technologyfoundation delivers asymmetrical IPaccess but is capable of synchronousISDN circuit connections if required. Thesystem is flexible in terms of terminals anddata rates.

A new generation of mobile satellitesystems is promised by the North Ameri-can MSS operator, Mobile SatelliteVentures (originally known as AmericanMobile Satellite Corporation, which

launched the MSAT series in the 1990s).MSV introduced the concept of AncillaryTerrestrial Component (ATC), which isillustrated in Figure 1, from MSV's website.The approach is to utilize the L-band spec-trum for an integrated mobile satellite likeThuraya and terrestrial service akin to 3Gwireless data networks now appearing indeveloped countries. As this figureillustrates, MSV intends to serve the now-popular hand-held data devices likeadvanced mobile phones and wirelessPDAs. With ATC and a new generation ofhigh-powered L-band satellites, anappropriate handset or laptop can roam

from a terrestrial wireless systemusing cell towers to a satellite under clear line-of-sight conditions. The servicehas been deemed by the FCC to befeasible and MSV is in favorableposition to proceed with its deploy-ment.

The developments identifiedabove all occurred in less than oneyear and represent several directionsof positive action for commercialGEO satellites. I’ve not coveredevery segment and application that’sappeared and expanded during theyear; however, this selection alonedemonstrates that next year shouldproduce solid gains for the mostcapable suppliers. Users on therespective corporate and govern-ment sides as well as consumersstand to have more options that givethem capability not seen as viable

even ten years ago – a time whenDIRECTV started to be a recognized nameand the entire industry was worth lessthan $20 billion. Interestingly, manyobservers thought our industry wasfacing a sunset due to fiber optic cablesand terrestrial wireless. Sunset passedwith the telecom meltdown and ourindustry has a new horizon for growth andinnovation.

Bruce Elbert has over 30 years of experience in satellite communi-cations and is the President of Application Technology Strategy,Inc., which assists satellite operators, network providers and usersin the public and private sectors. He is an author and educator inthese fields, having produced seven titles and conducted technical andbusiness training around the world. During 25 years with Hughes Electron-ics, he directed major technical projects and led business activities in theU.S. and overseas. He is the author of The Satellite Communication Applica-tions Handbook, second edition (Artech House, 2004). Web site:www.applicationstrategy.com / Email: [email protected]

SM

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Interview withMicrospace Vice-President Greg Hurt

EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT

Q. For the benefit of our readers,can you give us a brief background onMicrospace and what markets are youconcentrating on?

A. Microspace is a global provider ofvideo, data and audio content deliveryutilizing our VELOCITY® satellite service.We have gained significant experiencewith over 17 years of proven industryexperience in dozens of markets. Today,we see a variety of existing and emergingmarkets that perfectly leverage satellitedelivery. Examples would include marketslike digital signage, digital cinema andvarious forms of IP based corporatecommunications. Currently, we serve asignificant portion of the domesticweather services market and have estab-lished a leadership position within thefinancial services, retail, hospitality andcorporate communications.

Q. What applications do you think

have the most potential for growth in thenext few years for Microspace?

A. Based on our success in themarket over the years, we are seeing boththe digital cinema and digital signagemarkets reaching a turning point and makesignificant strides.

Digital signage adoption has seen

measurable growth over the past 18-24months. Networks are being deployed forvarious reasons including customereducation, employee training and corpo-rate branding just to mention a few. Theretail market in particular has taken off andis starting to adopt this approach ofreaching a targeted customer, with atargeted message and at just the righttime. Satellite technology is cost-effectiveand easy to maintain for content thatneeds to stay fresh and up-to-the-minute.During the past year, we have imple-mented satellite delivered digital signageapplications in a number of marketsincluding diners, gyms, banks and severaltypes of retail establishments.

Digital cinema is still at an interest-

ing point in adoption. Microspace was

the first company to deliver a standardiza-tion version of a digital motion picture viasatellite. We most recently delivered WaltDisney’s Chicken Little, one the first 3-Danimated tales of the year and have ahistory in delivering other feature filmslike DreamWork’s Shark Tale, Shrek 2 andCollateral. It’s clear that the studios arestarting to move ahead with the deliveryof digital motion pictures but there is stilla cautious atmosphere. In the next 18months, we expect to see significantaction in this market and are developingthe relationships to ensure that we arepositioned well for the transition.

As far as Microspace is concerned, a

file – whether digital signage or digitalcinema – is a file and we have had a longhistory of being able to delivery thesefiles reliably, economically and securing

SatMagazine Managing Editor Virgil Labrador recently spoke with Raleigh, North Caro-

lina-based Microspace Communications Corporation’s Vice-President for Sales and Mar-

keting, Greg Hurt. Microspace has been a leader in business television networks and is now

venturing into many new applications such as digital signage and satellite delivery of digital

cinema. Excerpts of the interview:

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via satellite since 1988. Q. Microspace has been known as a

leader in busienss television networks,what future does BTV hold?

A. Business television is not just forthe corporate boardroom and is becominga broad tool for overall corporate commu-nications which includes employeetraining, distributing corporate messagesto employees and connecting businessleaders within an organization.

Microspace has also just announcedthe Expert Resource Network, a resourcewhich allows broadcasters to locate andconnect directly to expert resources atuniversities and corporations to provideexpert opinions on most any subjectmatter. With Microspace technology, theindividuals appear on live news broad-casts across the country via remotesatellite feeds.

Q. How is Microspace differentfrom your competitors?

A. We have been in this businesssince the late 80’s and have provenourselves in economically and reliablydelivering our customer’s content. Wealso continue to place a huge emphasis onstrong customer support and take a greatdeal of pride in the reputation we havebeen able to establish.

Q. Are you profitable? When did

you achieve profitability and what rate ofgrowth do you expect in the next fewyears?

A. We have historically experiencedsolid year over year revenue growth andexpect this trend to continue. We alsoexpect strong customer retention sinceour customer turnover has always beenextremely low.

Q. What can we expect from

Microspace in the next few months?

EXECUTIVE SPOTLIGHT

A. Microspace will continue to focuson the digital signage market as expect tosee a great deal of growth in this area.With the recent release of Chicken Littleand the studios beginning to commit todigital distribution of features, we areconcentrating on developing the rightrelationships within the industry as well.

SM

http://www.panamsat.com

36Back to Contents


VITAL STATISTICS

Futron is a premier provider of decision support consulting services to the aerospace and telecommunications industries.Using our proprietary methodologies, models, and in-depth data repositories, Futron transforms raw data into valuableintelligence. Our results help clients make higher quality business and technical decisions. Our consulting servicesinclude market and industry analyses, safety and risk management, and communications and information management.

For more information contactSpace & Telecommunications Division, Futron Corporation – www.futron.com, Tel: +1- 347-3450 – [email protected]

37Back to Contents


Africa’s SatCom Dynamics:Thinking Global, Acting Local in West Africa

MARKET INTELLIGENCE

That a full 20 transponders onsatellites with a footprint over atleast part of Africa – a significant

proportion of the aggregate satellitecoverage of the continent provided by 52Ku-band beams and 36 C-band beams –are used for GSM backhaul and forinternational connections means that, forthis continent at least, an evaluation ofthe nature of 21st Century teledensityindex has outgrown the measures for solong provided by the traditional JippCurve.

An appreciation of today’s morecomplex connectivity parameters isprovided in the recently published AcaciaAtlas 2005: Mapping African ICTGrowth. Conceived and led by theCanadian public corporation, the Interna-tional Development Research Centre(IDRC), the Atlas was available in Tunis,during the World Summit on the Informa-tion Society (WSIS) Phase Two proceed-ings. It has resulted from the work of theAcacia Initiative: Communities and theInformation Society in Africa Program, aninternational initiative to empower sub-Saharan communities with the ability toapply information and communicationtechnologies (ICTs) to their own socialand economic development. Acaciacontributes to the African InformationSociety Initiative (AISI) endorsed by thegovernments of the continent as an actionframework to build Africa’s ICT infrastruc-ture.

The Jipp Curve, named after Profes-sor A. Jipp who first wrote about plotting

the relationship between teledensity andwealth (as measured by GDP per capita),generally shows a significant positivecorrelation, pointing to the fact thatteledensity and wealth rise together with abi-directional causal interrelationship:improved means of communications leadsto accelerated economic activity andgrowth which stimulates further demandfor better communications infrastructures,and so on.

The nature of modernteleconnectivity indices, applying in manyparts of Africa – as elsewhere in the world– has required that Professor Jipp’sexpression of the relationship in terms offixed line teledensity be revised, recogniz-ing that in all but five of Africa’s nationaleconomies there were more mobile phones

than fixed lines as long ago as 2003.Thus, a more appropriate measure is thatof “effective teledensity”, meaning eitherfixed line or mobile density per 100inhabitants, whichever is the greater.

As reported in the Acacia Atlas 2005by Dr Tim Kelly, Head of the ITU Strategy& Policy Unit, in one of Africa’s – and theworld’s – Least Developed Countries (thelist of LDCs is defined by the UnitedNations), Mauritania, effective teledensityhas grown by more than 42 per cent overthe last decade, even though mobileservices there were not introduced until asrecently as 2000. Thus the Mauritanianeffective teledensity index is one of morethan 10 per 100 inhabitants. Along withCameroon, Congo, Democratic Republic ofCongo, and Uganda, Mauritania has

By Martin JarroldChief, International ProgramDevelopment, GVF

Microspace see growth in the digital signage market.

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MARKET INTELLIGENCE

achieved a mobile penetration rate that iseight times greater than fixed line penetra-tion.

Also available for the first time atWSIS was the United Nations ICT TaskForce Working Group Series publicationOpen Access for Africa: Challenges,Recommendations and Examples, whichfeatures an edited version of the Open andClosed Skies: Satellite Access in Africareport (download available in both Englishand French language versions from thehomepage at www.gvf.org), which wasresearched by GVF and funded by theIDRC. Under the UN-ICT Task Forcebanner, GVF thus had an opportunityonce again to reiterate that addressing thedeficiencies in access to low-cost commu-nication services is now regarded as anurgent imperative for not only improvingthe quality of life in African communities,but for significantly enhancing themission-critical, productivity capabilitiesof a range of African industries. It is nowclearer than ever the extent to which keysectors of African industry (as well asgovernment and civil society) are becom-ing increasingly heavily reliant onsatellite-based communications toovercome the considerable deficiencies inthe availability, functionality, reliabilityand cost-effectiveness of competingcommunications technologies.

In West Africa, a region taking centrestage in the telecoms arena with its ownadvanced plans for a regional satellite(NigComSat 1) to service these unprec-edented levels of private (and public)sector demand for satellite-based voice,data and video solutions, more countriesare adopting and implementing policies tosupport national ICT developmentobjectives, as graphically illustrated in theAcacia Atlas 2005. For the continent as awhole, information from the U.N. Eco-nomic Commission for Africa shows thatin 2000 only 13 nations had an ICT policy,the figure for 2005 is 28. Again, in 2000,

there were 10 countries in process ofdeveloping such a policy, increasing to 15in 2005. Nations not yet having launchedan ICT development process numbered 30in 2000, but just 10 in 2005.

The stage beyond any one nationalICT strategy and policy will be movestowards the integration of several of such

individual national efforts into an interna-tionally orientated and harmonized, pan-regional ICT development strategy. Inturn, part of such a pan-regional initiativewill focus on the means of harmonizingthe policies and regulations which affectthe successful deployment – or otherwise– of reliable, speedy, and cost-effectivecommunications solutions in cross-border

http://www.lnr.com

39Back to Contents


MARKET INTELLIGENCE

networks, to meet cross-border demands.

As previously reported in thiscolumn, a harmonized regional frameworkfor West Africa was agreed as recently asthis September, and includes guidelinesthat are designed to spur investment anddevelopment in the West African ICTsector. Once widely adopted, theseguidelines should prove an instrumentalpart of a wider ICT and economic policy tohelp propel some of the world’s poorernations into the Information Age.

The GVF’s suite of Regulatory &Policy Capacity-Building tools togetherwith its range of Courseware for Sustain-able Network Deployment, offer facilita-tion of the development of harmonizedpolicy and regulation, and also of thebusiness of building a satellite business,thereby contributing to improved accessto the range of teleconnectivity optionsthat aggregate into overall solutions inbridging the digital divide, clearing theway to becoming an Information Society.

One of the programs in the suite ofCourseware for Sustainable NetworkDeployment – the Satellite BusinessCourse – is being offered, appropriatelyenough at the Digital Bridge Institute inAbuja, Nigeria, on 25 November, as part ofthe GVF West African Satellite Communi-cations Conference (NewCom WAFSAT).Facilitation of sustainable deployment canbe achieved through using the GVF in-house capacity-building portfolio thataddresses a broad spectrum of stakehold-ers through the following education andtraining courses:

Satellite Sustainability: This courseis tailored for ICT professionals in small,medium and large enterprises who haveresponsibility for designing, procuring,contracting, deploying, maintaining andbuilding sustainable communicationssolutions on satellite-based networks.Applications addressed can include tele-

Martin Jarrold is the Director, InternationalPrograms of the Global VSAT Forum. He can be reached [email protected] For more information on the GVF gotowww.gvf.org

medicine, distance learning, disasterrecovery/emergency communications,humanitarian and aid, rural tele-centres,cyber cafes, and more. Durations varyfrom 1-10 days depending on trainees’expertise levels, as well as the type andnumber of applications to be addressed.

Satellite Business: This course isdesigned for representatives of large,medium and small enterprises that areengaged in or are thinking about startingbusinesses or related operations thatinvolve satellitecommunications. Durations vary fromone-half to three days, and the course isoffered for organizations that operate indeveloping nations. Content is not highlytechnical, with the primary focus coveringbusiness aspects, including the communi-cations industry structure and wheresatellite fits; regulatory frameworks; typesof satellite-based business; criticalsuccess factors; core competencies;customer management; business strategy& planning; risk analysis; outlook for thefuture.

VSAT Installation and Mainte-nance: This GVF training course wascreated to serve as the global industrystandard for installers of bi-directionalsatellite earth stations. It was establishedby a consensus of expert volunteersserving in the GVF Education & TrainingWorking Group, whose mission is toidentify, formulate and share knowledgethat is beneficial to the satellite industry,its shareholders and stakeholders. Thecourse, which consists of three succes-sive levels, culminates with hands-oninstallation of live systems and a rigoroustest. The course duration varies from 1-5days, depending on the expertise level ofthe trainees and the number of levels

given. The course has been endorsed bythe International Satellite Operators Group(ISOG), as well as by every global satelliteoperator and regional players.

Introduction to Satellite Communi-cations: This GVF course is designed forprofessionals who are new to satellitecommunications, specifically sales,marketing and administration profession-als who need a basic understanding of allaspects of satellite communications. Thiscourse is typically held in a half- or one-day format. It covers all key areas relatingto satellite communications, includingindustry history, orbits, frequencies,equipment types, bandwidth factors,applications, regulations, and effectivebusiness models.

Satellite Technology: This is anacademic GVF course developed inconjunction with York University. It istechnical and is designed for under-graduate, post-graduate and professionalengineers interested in developing a moresophisticated understanding of satellitecommunications systems. This course,which ranges in duration from 1-3 days, istypically delivered in an academic setting,or for enterprises that have a stronginterest in expanding the technical abilityof their staff. It covers the primaryengineering areas, including protocols(e.g. Internet Protocol), modulationschemes, atmospheric considerations, linkbudgeting, and much more.

Further information can be obtainedby clicking on the Training button on thehomepage at www.gvf.org. SM

40Back to Contents


STOCK MONITORSTOCK MONITORSTOCK MONITORSTOCK MONITORSTOCK MONITOR

For real-time stock quotes go to www.satnews.com/free/finance.html

ADVERTISERSINDEX

AAE SYSTEMS 13www.aaesys.com

ARABSAT 14www.arabsat.com

COMTECH EFDATA 7www.comtechefdata.com

CPI SATCOM 11www.cpii.com/satcom

GLOBECAST 26www.globecast.com

ILC 25www.ilc.com

L-3 NARDASATELLITENETWORKS 38www.lnr.com

MITEQ 10www.miteq.com

PANAMSAT 35www.panamsat.com

SES GLOBAL 6www.ses-global.com

Name Symbol Price 52-wk Range

APT SATELLITE ATS 1.30 1.12 - 1.68ANDREW CORP ANDW 10.99 10.07 - 15.49ASIA SATELLITETELECOMMUNICATIONS(ASIASAT) SAT 16.95 16.60 - 20.55BALL CP BLL 40.85 35.06 - 46.45BOEING CO BA 68.63 49.52 - 69.90BRITISH SKY ADS BSY 34.32 33.61 - 44.99CALAMP CORP CAMP 11.65 5.23 - 12.26C-COM SATELLITESYSTEMS CMI.V 0.45 0.21 - 0.56COM DEV INTL LTD CDV.TO 2.00 1.80 - 3.25COMTECH TELECOM CMTL 43.09 19.1867 - 44.89THE DIRECTV GROUP DTV 13.76 13.47 - 17.01ECHOSTARCOMMUNICATIONS DISH 26.20 24.44 - 34.38FREQUENCY ELECTRONICS FEI 10.40 9.80 - 16.05GILAT SATELLITE NETWORKS GILTF 5.35 5.06 - 7.62GLOBECOMM SYS INC GCOM 6.44 5.09 - 8.44HARRIS CORP HRS 44.29 26.94 - 45.68HONEYWELL INTL IN HON 36.42 32.68 - 39.50INTL DATACASTING IDC.TO 0.20 0.19 - 0.34INTEGRAL SYSTEMS ISYS 21.55 17.25 - 24.70KVH INDS INC KVHI 9.69 8.54 - 13.23L-3 COMM HLDGS LLL 73.40 64.66 - 84.84LOCKHEED MARTIN LMT 60.37 52.54 - 65.46NEWS CORP NWS 15.83 14.76 - 19.41NORSAT INTL INC NSATF.OB 0.808 0.43 - 1.51NTL INC NTLI 59.20 55.52 - 73.79ORBITAL SCIENCES ORB 12.01 8.84 - 13.10PT PASIFIK SATELLITE PSNRY.PK 0.15 0.09 - 0.30QUALCOMM INC QCOM 46.04 32.08 - 46.32RADYNE CORPORATION RADN 13.56 7.04 - 13.74SCIENTIFIC ATLANTA SFA 42.15 26.73 - 42.53SIRIUS SATELLITE SIRI 7.00 4.42 - 9.43SES GLOBAL SDS.F 12.45 6.70 - 12.47TRIMBLE NAVIGATION TRMB 31.62 26.64 - 44.55WORLDSPACE INC WRSP 11.14 10.26 - 26.00VIASAT INC VSAT 27.63 17.30 - 27.97XM SATELLITE RADIO XMSR 29.49 26.16 - 40.89

(November 28)

http://www.aaesys.com

http://www.arabsat.com

http://www.comtechefdata.com

http://www.cpii.com/satcom

http://www.globecast.com

http://www.lnr.com

http://www.miteq.com

http://www.panamsat.com


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