Sky-high - Intelsat | The Globalized Network · Alan Crisp, analyst with specialist market research and consulting firm NSR, suggests that despite increasing concerns about web-based

Alan Crisp, analyst with

specialist market research and

consulting firm NSR, suggests

that despite increasing concerns about

web-based OTT video, the linear TV

via satellite market will continue to

show solid growth. NSR’s Linear TV

via Satellite: DTH, OTT & IPTV, 8th

Edition, finds that, by 2024 the

market will see an increase of over

21,000 channels across both DTH and

video distribution platforms. The

proliferation of Ultra HD, HD and SD

channels, along with limited global

impact from OTT platforms, enable

linear TV via satellite to continue

upwards over the next decade.

“Although OTT platforms have become

increasingly mature in North America,

elsewhere the development of OTT platforms

is in its infancy and is expected to have

limited impact on traditional video platforms

in the short to medium term,” says Crisp.

In North America, subscriber numbers on

most cable TV platforms are declining as a

result of cord-cutting, and subscriber growth

for DTH platforms has been at sub-par levels

for some time. However, elsewhere

platforms are moving from strength to

strength, with the pull of exclusive content,

sports and localised

channels being a

significant draw for

consumers worldwide to

linear TV platforms – and

NSR does not expect this

trend to change soon.

BOTTLENECK.

Especially in developing

regions, access to high

quality and fast Internet

access remains a bottleneck for the adoption

of OTT platforms, with wireless technologies

such as 3G/LTE not suited to the demanding

bandwidth required for streaming video

content. As such, unless a ubiquitous fixed

line or low cost satellite broadband service is

introduced, there remains limited impact to

the dominance of traditional pay TV

platforms, with a few exceptions. As such,

leased capacity video, the bread and butter

for satellite operators, continues to exhibit

strong growth, with over 3,500 satellite

transponders to be leased in 2024 for DTH

and video distribution services globally.

“Nevertheless, longer-term, it will

essentially be compulsory for DTH and other

pay TV platforms to offer OTT as a

supplementary service, to both increase

retention amongst existing subscribers, and

for signing up new subs based on exclusive

content, and effectively becoming a ‘one-

stop-shop’ for content as much as feasibly

possible,” states Crisp.

Alex Pannell, portfolio development

director with Arqiva, says that in the short to

medium term, hybrid TV (linear TV via

16 EUROMEDIA

The growth of OTTservices could have ledto a decline in themarket for DTHproviders and satelliteservices in general, butthe advent of 4K,coupled with the desireof premium contentproviders to exploitrights further afield indeveloping markets, hasput satellite’s bandwidthand reach advantageback in the limelight.Colin Mann looks at whois providing what,where, and how themarket is likely todevelop.

“The mosteconomical point-to-multipointmechanismremains satellite.”Bernard Riera,Globecast

Sky-highprospects

coverstory2808_cover story 29/08/2015 09:14 Page 1

satellite and OTT platforms) will be

complementary. “Broadcasters who are

offering linear TV via satellite, such as BBC,

ITV, Sky, Canal+, and NBCU are using VoD

to augment the customer experience. He

suggests that broadband networks cannot

today scale to provide broadcast quality

programmes to 10 million viewers at once,

and the investment is currently too much for

mobile operators. “In this instance,

terrestrial or satellite is so much better. Yet,

in the longer term, this could change

especially in highly dense, small geography

communities. For example, Now TV in Hong

Kong delivers over 190 channels of TV to 1.2

million homes purely over broadband.”

Mark Wilson-Dunn, VP of BT Media &

Broadcast, says that in general the

development of OTT platforms will have very

little impact on the linear TV via satellite

market in the short to medium term. “There

is a growing trend for the smaller, niche

channels to move away from relatively

expensive DTH platforms to lower cost OTT

platforms, but there is a growing demand for

HD and quality programming for

mainstream channels, particularly sports,

and DTH satellite remains a cost effective

delivery mechanism for the mass market,

particularly for higher bit rate delivery...BT

Sport is delivering UHD over broadband

DTH which is a first for Europe.”

ECONOMICAL. According to Bernard

Riera, director of new technologies and

innovation, Globecast, although audiences

are becoming increasingly fragmented, and

there’s the talk about – and deployments of –

OTT services, linear consumption still

accounts for the majority of content accessed

by consumers. “Overall, the most economical

point-to-multipoint distribution mechanism

remains satellite. There are instances where

fibre may be more economical. For example,

a new channel launch or a foray into a new

region, are instances where operators could

find fibre the better option. But when they

start to diversify their operations and their

reach, satellite is more likely to enter the

mix.”

Peter Ostapiuik, head of media product

services at Intelsat, says that while more and

more viewers are watching content across

multiple devices, linear TV remains the

number one way viewers are consuming

media. “While we do not expect an impact in

the short to medium term as viewers

continue to prefer content via linear TV,

millennials continue to ‘cut the cord’ and opt

to consume media on-demand and on mobile

devices. As a result, we believe multiscreen

viewing will continue to increase and serve as

a complementary way to view content.”

“From a satellite operator’s perspective,

satellite is uniquely positioned to support

broadcasters and programmers as they

transition their distribution models. Satellite

has the ability to deliver large-scale

transmissions that are high quality, reliable

and secure – regardless of the screen –and

remains the most cost-effective way to

multicast linear channels at a predictable

cost.”

BRIDGE. Ulf Sandberg,

MD of Paradigm, says

that media broadcasting

reliance on satellite

communication models

has shifted with the

viewers, but that the

reliance on satellite

technology hasn’t

changed. “Linear TV

satellite broadcasters are

now looking for more

bandwidth, increasing the

bandwidth of the satellite antenna terminals,

as they layer more and more data onto the

broadcast stream, offering the same OTT-

style content to their viewers. Looking more

closely, media companies are using satellite

and fibre mediums more and more to bridge

the gap from source to transmission point.

The consumer’s view of the industry is that

fibre and ADSL broadband mediums are now

taking over supply of traditional TV and

radio content, where the RF wireless

mediums once dominated.”

Peter Cox, marketing director,

PerceptionTV, suggests that in the short to

medium term, the biggest change will be the

growing focus on box sets and the adoption

rates of these sorts of services by other TV

providers. “Sky has of course set the

benchmark for others to beat. However, as

Netflix and other providers grow this feature,

Sky will inevitably be hit the hardest because

the difference in overall service fees are huge.

As the cheaper OTT providers such as Netflix

add more and more innovative, competing

features to their portfolio, the demand for

these services are likely to continue to

increase – threatening the consumption of

linear TV even more.”

Steve Plunkett, CTO, Broadcast and

Media Services at Ericsson, feels that any

such impact will depend greatly on the

geography. “In markets where high

bandwidth, inexpensive broadband is readily

available, we will see increased pressure on

those satellite channels with either niche

audiences or content libraries that are

common to OTT services. In markets where

broadband is less available than DTH,

satellite still offers the most effective reach.

The situation will evolve further when LTE

and later 5G provides much greater access to

high speed broadband in countries without a

large legacy copper network in place,” he

suggests.

HYBRID. Elad Manishviz, CMO, RR Media,

says that while capacity costs for 4K are

higher on satellite, media companies will

look for the best hybrid delivery mechanisms

based on quality and robustness, which can

be via satellite, fibre and IP delivery. “As

there is not yet a solid business model for a

pure OTT platform (Linear TV + VoD), such

services will, for the medium term,

complement the traditional platforms of

DBS, DTH, Cable, etc. This will help

providers to reach audiences anytime and

anywhere,” he adds.

“At SES, we see OTT services as today’s

Blu-rays and DVDs,” reports Norbert Hölzle,

SVP, Commercial, Europe of SES. “Just like

how Blu-rays and DVDs used to complement

linear TV back in the past decade, OTT

packages are fulfilling the same needs. With

recent research showing that people are

spending more screen time in general, we see

the trend of people watching both OTT and

linear TV content. On the other hand, the

increasingly amount of 4K content shown on

OTT platforms has also contributed to

awareness of the new technology and

resulted in more 4K content being shot. This

can only result in the audience being more

attuned to Ultra HD and demanding it in

programmes they watch on linear TV.”

“Spacecom posits that OTT services will

have no or little effect on linear TV services

that are provided via satellite,” says Dr. Eli

Shavit, director of business information,

Spacecom. “Although some reports deal with

a decline in pay-TV subscriptions (primarily

in North America), the number of

subscribers for ‘classical’ linear pay-TV

services is on a constant rise everywhere else.

No one can overlook OTT, however because

so many obstacles currently exist before most

EUROMEDIA 17

“Most operatorshave no plans tolaunch thematicUHD channels.” Mark Wilson-Dunn, BT Media &Broadcast Services


markets will be able to enjoy OTT services,

satellite TV is here to stay for many years.”

Matt Vidmar, Vision Group chairman,

suggests that an audience shift is already

well recognised and accepted by the

industry. “In regions where OTT services

have a sizeable penetration it has already

started to take a commanding share,

particularly with the younger audience. The

good news for satellite DTH is that metadata

rich EPG and PVR technology provides

sufficient feature sets to keep satellite service

user experience at a high enough level to

provide profitable business models for the

operators. If we look into the latest industry

growth stats we can see that satellite’s

numbers of channels are still expanding,

however, the OTT curve is much steeper

which is in large part due to OTT business

being much less saturated. This means that

there is tremendous growth opportunity to

come over the next few years especially in

emerging markets.” He predicts that we will

see the steady evolution in the long term

where most of the new satellite transponders

will be utilised for satellite broadband

service facilitating OTT.

UHD. According to Keith Frost, media and

data networks director for satellite and

media at Arqiva, the demand 4K/UHD will

place on transponder capacity will be

intense. “For example, a transponder can

handle 40MB per second, and with standard

definition and current compression

technologies you can get up to 20 channels

into that space; with high definition three-

to-four channels, and with UHD/ 4K 1-2

channels maximum. In addition, the fixed

cost for a transponder is expensive, so the

aim is to get as many channels on it as

possible to make it cost effective. So it will

initially be economics that will drive the

uptake of 4K/UHD, and therefore the

demand on transponder capacity. We predict

that 4K/UHD will initially be used for

Occasional Use and instances where

aggressive content needs to be supported –

for example in sport, or where there is a long

shelf life like nature programming or movies.

This is how the programme provider will be

able to capture a return

on their investment.”

“It’s an exciting

technological

development, but at this

time caution is required

as it is not known if the

pace of uptake and the

cost will enable the

broadcast owners to be

able to monetise the

proposition, and get the

money back from the end-user at scale, to

make 4K/UHD a compelling opportunity.

But, we are beginning to see the

development of satellite and broadband

delivered models, which BT has announced

they will be doing.”

BT’s Wilson-Dunn says that 4K/UHD will

require an increase in transponder bit rate

per channel, meaning that platform

operators will only be able to launch a

limited number of such channels, almost

certainly limited to live sports in the early

years. “Most channel operators have no

plans to launch thematic UHD channels at

present, but are acquiring / creating content

in UHD for future library sales. BT Media &

Broadcast is at the forefront of UHD sports

capture, having already provided UHD

production and transmission for several

global sports events, including the ICC

World Cup in Australia in February 2015. In

terms of industry readiness, platform

operators are already providing UHD ready

set-top boxes, and UHD-ready TVs are

already available, and so the penetration of

UHD services will be predicated on the

availability of UHD content to the

consumer,” he suggests.

HYPE. Globecast’s Riera says that satellite

is still an easy way to distribute content

anywhere, with high bit-rate availability and

high quality of service. “Consequently,

satellite perfectly suits new video formats

such as UHD TV. In spite of all the hype

around new platforms such as mobile, it’s

important to keep in mind that in many

regions of the world, satellite remains the

only way to distribute video content -

including to DTT

networks for onward

transmission - due

to the lack of

suitable terrestrial

broadband

networks,” he

advises. “At this

stage Globecast

doesn’t see any

expanded satellite

bandwidth

consumption as the introduction of new

technologies, in combination with the

decrease of SD channels, will more or less

compensate the bandwidth needs of UHD.”

“While we believe the introduction of 4K

UHDTV will generate demand for additional

bandwidth, Intelsat and its ecosystem

partners have been demonstrating advances

in technology which have made the entire

ecosystem not only able to handle the

additional demand, but to do so today,” says

Ostapiuik. “Satellites currently in orbit are

able to cost-efficiently deliver high-quality

4K UHDTV content, resulting from the 4K

UHDTV technology advancements that

Intelsat and its partners have demonstrated

since 2013. Those include improvements

in HEVC compression technology and most

recently, 4K UHDTV content delivery via

IntelsatOne Prism, a new next-generation, IP

content distribution managed service that is

fully integrated with Intelsat’s powerful

global satellite fleet and IntelsatOne

terrestrial network.”

“As innovation within the 4K UHDTV

ecosystem continues, the advances occurring

in compression technology will enable a

lower barrier of entry for new channels and

services. Just as MPEG-2 facilitated

analogue to digital conversion, MPEG-4 is

driving HD growth and HEVC will bring 4K

UHDTV services to consumers, resulting in

additional demand, presenting an

opportunity for customers to differentiate

their services and drive additional revenue

for their channels,” he concludes.

BUZZ. Paradigm’s Sandberg describes 4K

and UHD as “new buzz words in the

consumer market” noting that for the

satellite industry, it’s simply the next step.

“Like most industries, the satellite industry

is very aware of the need for the faster,

bigger, better approach to content. The

development of the next generation of

satellites shows the implementation of

technological advancements currently

spreading through the industry.”

According to PerceptionTV’s Cox, the

rush and demand for an increase in 4K

content is not as important as some may

18 EUROMEDIA

“Where broadbandis less availablethan DTH, satellitestill offers the mosteffective reach.” Steve Plunkett,Ericsson

“Satellite is uniquelypositioned to

support broadcasterstransition their

distributionmodels.”

Peter Ostapiuik,Intelsat


think. “4K TVs currently do a great job of

upscaling traditional HD to a high quality,

watchable 4K picture. Of course, having this

option available may stall the demand and

uptake but eventually satellite and TV

providers will need to assess their

transponder bandwidth and capacity – at

this point the level of 4K content available

will have a significant impact on

transponders and strain the ability to

maintain a high quality service. As the

amount of 4K/UHD content increases, in

line with demand, it will be a race for

satellite providers to adapt and compete for

the higher capacity,” he suggests.

“Even with the latest HEVC compression

ratios, UHD bandwidth requirements are

considerable, so linear delivery will place a

significant burden on transponder capacity,”

agrees Ericsson’s Plunkett. “However, this

will only be a problem if the number of UHD

channel launches in the short term is high

(which seems unlikely). As other forms of

distribution increase, reducing bandwidth

pressure on transponders, and while

transponder investment itself continues,

there will be sufficient capacity to serve the

needs of UHD.”

MAINSTREAM. “The industry is getting

there, however it will be a long time before

4K is mainstream,” says RR Media’s

Manishviz. “This will be driven by content

that demands 4K – sports, movies, lifestyle

etcetera. Investments will also need to be

made right across the value chain: on the

production side for 4K filming and editing

equipment; by operators on new 4K set-top

boxes; and by consumers on 4K-ready TV

screens. It is a bit of a vicious cycle: because

there are not yet many 4K channels or

enough 4K content, there are also not many

consumers buying 4K-ready TV sets.”

“The increasing number of UHD and 4K

channels will result in the demand for more

bandwidth,” accepts SES’s Hölzle. “The

satellite industry is more than equipped to

meet these demands, especially since it is the

only infrastructure that can deliver true high

quality UHD as most OTT content today is of

lower UHD quality. In addition, satellites

reach a wide audience, optimising the cost of

broadcasting UHD content. Europe’s first

commercial free-to-air UHD channel will be

launched on SES in fall, and there are more

UHD channels that we are expecting before

the end of the year.”

“4K/UHD is slowly gaining the public’s

attention with the first channels budding in

certain

markets

alongside

demo

channels set

up to promote

the format,”

notes

Spacecom’s

Shavit.

“Because

UHD

consumes a

larger share of bandwidth, satellite is the

best distribution method for it. Development

of UHD channels offerings will take some

years, exactly as occurred with HD channels.

As we move forward, the industry will

become more equipped for UHD into most

regions.”

According to Vision Group’s Vidmar, the

key driver at the start of the chain is the CE

equipment manufacturers who need cyclical

roll-outs of new technology backed by new

standards to sell new TV sets and cameras to

the consumer. “In turn, satellite operators

also have the incentive to tag along because

it delivers higher demand for their

transponder capacity. Due to improvements

in codec technology an increase in resolution

requires a relatively marginal increase in

bandwidth. For example, UHD transmission

is based on H265 codec which in

demonstrations and in service, with very few

early adoptees, delivers UHD channels in

12+ Mbps

which is the

same

bandwidth

that the HD

service began

with many

years ago. The

industry is

well versed

with dealing

with next

generation

deployments -

UHD is fifth generation TV technology and

roll out will be totally smooth this time,” he

predicts.

REGIONS. In terms of regions and

territories that show the most potential for

growth in demand for satellite services,

Arqiva’s Frost says the UK and Europe has

the satellite capacity, within a limited

spectrum range, to support a low-level

growth in demand for 4K/ UHD satellite

services. “But in turn, it will be the regions

where there hasn’t been the investment in

super-fast broadband – like in the Middle

East, Africa, Asia and Latin America – who

will be demanding satellite services. For

these regions, satellite will be the most cost

effective way to deliver content – by volume

and to manage the high demand by viewers.”

Pannell adds that although there will be a

very high demand for OTT in the first

instance in regions such as Western Europe,

America and pockets of Asia where there has

been a large investment in superfast

broadband, and people have the income to

watch content on the multiple devices they

are able to purchase, the challenge will be

how to get OTT content out to rural areas

where broadband is limited.

“Satellite continues to grow and expand

for channel delivery in Asia and Africa, and

from those territories where physical

geography remains a challenge to fibre,”

advises Wilson-Dunn. “At BT Media &

Broadcast we have a blended portfolio of a

robust media specific fibre network and

satellite capability which means that we can

offer our clients the best possible solution

regardless of origination and destination.”

GROWTH. Riera says it is quite hard to

generalise when talking globally because

there’s a “huge” difference between emerging

markets and those that are far more

developed. “We still see a strong future for

broadcast television and the delivery of

linear feeds, both for geographical reach but

also broadcast’s inherent point-to-multipoint

abilities. And then there’s also the

contribution side. In many parts of the

world, we are still talking about FTA,

analogue television as the only means of

watching broadcast content. In fact it’s from

emerging markets where there has recently

been the highest level of pay-TV growth,” he

notes.

“From a media perspective, we are seeing

an increased demand for satellite services

around the globe,” reports Ostapiuik. “In

Latin America, viewers’ appetite for high-

quality content is clear as the introduction of

High-Definition (HD) programming in the

20 EUROMEDIA

“The use of thespectrum needs to be

regulated at aninternational level.”

Alex Pannell, Arqiva

“Economics will drivethe uptake of UHD andtherefore the demand ontransponder capacity.”Keith Frost, Arqiva


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region continues to be one of the biggest

drivers of demand for satellite services used

for cable and Direct-to-Home (DTH)

distribution.”

“In Africa, the analogue switch-off and

implementation of the digital migration is

driving the demand for satellite services.

Leading broadcasting

signal distributors in

Africa are utilising

Intelsat’s premier video

neighbourhoods to expand

their DTH and DTT

services to reach viewers

in underserved, outlying

areas in the region.”

DEMANDS. “In North

America and the Asia

Pacific, the introduction of

4K and 8K UHDTV

content – both which

require increased

bandwidth – is driving

growth. While we

anticipate a number of new

4K channels to emerge

over the next couple years,

we expect that it will be

another three to five years

before a critical mass of 4K

UHD programming will

become available. Our Galaxy fleet and our

IntelsatOne terrestrial network is ready to

meet the increased bandwidth demands

associated with 4K UHDTV.”

“Particularly in Asia, as viewer demand

for more HD and 4K content grows,

satellite’s ability to quickly scale and cost-

effectively deliver services is a critical

differentiator for DTH operators. DTH

operators require less costly infrastructure

upgrades to support these new technology

advancements in comparison to cable or

IPTV, enabling them to bring higher

bandwidth content to market faster,” says

Ostapiuik, alluding to NSR’s research that

suggests South Asia, specifically the Indian

market, continues to see explosive growth.

For Sandberg, the growth regions for

satellite services are Asia, Africa and South

America. “Countries such as Qatar,

Azerbaijan and Nigeria are launching their

own satellite constellations to help meet the

growing demand,” he advises. According to

Cox, when considering long term potential,

the only regions that may realistically

experience a growth in demand for satellite

services are those that have no real ability to

provide high speed broadband over fibre,

also noting the cord-cutting phenomenon,

leading to subscriber loss, which he suggests

is made up of millennial viewers, the 18–34

age group, who are tending to move from

pay-TV to streaming content online through

OTT. “This shift to OTT services will have a

damaging effect on the demand for satellite

TV in all regions that can host OTT services

in a high quality format,” he predicts.

MOBILITY. “Pay-TV in emerging markets

still seems to be the likely growth driver,”

adds Plunkett. Manishviz sees growth

opportunities in areas where fibre and

internet penetration and quality is poor –

mostly in emerging regions: LatAm, Africa

and parts of Asia. “As with HD television, the

leading regions that will offer UHD channels

will include North America, Japan, South

Korea, Western Europe and certain smaller

markets outside these regions,” says Shavit.

Hölzle says that as we move towards a

connected world, it is no surprise that

mobility services will have the most potential

for growth in both Western and Eastern

Europe. “Airlines passengers who are flying

across the continent would like to remain

connected so they can check their emails,

surf the web, watch videos online, etc. The

same connectivity also provide cabin crews

the ability to document flight activities, such

as flight reports and passenger food orders,

on their tablets, resulting in real-time

reporting and far less paper weight aboard

the plane. This trend is also reflected in the

maritime industry where we see an

increasing number of merchant and

passenger vessels such as cruise ships and

superyachts sailing in the Mediterranean Sea

demanding constant connectivity.”

According to Vidmar, satellite service

regions are a thing of the past, and he says it

is important to consider transponder

utilisation with technology growth: C-band

replacement with Ku and Ku with Ka; SD

upgraded to HD being followed by UHD; and

lastly, a shift from DVB to IP which in the

mid to long term will be the most important

facilitator for long term satellite business.

“For satellite IP

to really flourish

very small and

inexpensive

mobile devices

are required.” he

warns.

REGULATION.

With

opportunities

opening up for

the sector, are

there regulatory threats facing the satellite

service industry? According to Pannell, there

is a competing demand for the limited

spectrum available and how that spectrum

will be used for different services, such as

mobile and digital terrestrial television. “The

use of the spectrum needs to be regulated

and coordinated at an international level, as

it will be a complex task to manage

stakeholder’s expectations across the

different countries and industries.

Regulatory threats like cost, competition,

availability and utilisation need to be defined

to ensure a fair market with real

monetisation opportunities.”

Riera notes that for several decades,

spectrum management policy was based on

an exclusive allocation of resources for each

system. “This meant, for example,

telecommunication satellites benefited from

a dedicated spectrum allocation, allowing

them to avoid any interference with other

systems e.g. terrestrial broadcasting. The aim

was make the installation of any receiving

antenna easy. DTH antennae are protected

against any interference coming from other

legal radio communication systems. But in

order to satisfy growing spectrum demands,

two decades ago the ITU changed its policy

and agreed to share spectrum between

different systems (for example DTH and

WIMAX). The main negative consequence

can be the creation of local interference

between two systems because the national

regulation body authorised the deployment

of a terrestrial system (e.g. WIMAX

networks) using the same frequency as that

used for DTH.”

Ostapiuik says that from a media

perspective, C-band ensures critical, reliable

media distribution services to inform and

entertain viewers around the globe. “As the

upcoming ITU World Radiocommunications

22 EUROMEDIA

“It will be a racefor satelliteproviders to adaptand compete forthe highercapacity.” Peter Cox,PerceptionTV


2 LATAM Briefing

LATAM_2015.indd 2 23/07/2015 07:41

Conference 2015 (WRC-15) in November

approaches, the International Mobile

Telecommunications (IMT) industry is

claiming that it needs additional spectrum

and is lobbying regulators to identify the C-

band frequency band (3.4-4.2 GHz

receive/downlink and 5.8-6.7 GHz

transmit/uplink) for IMT services. Satellite

spectrum, including C-band, is critical not

only to the satellite industry, but the global

communications infrastructure. It cannot be

‘replaced’ with other bands and sharing with

IMT services may cause unintentional

interference - if regulators are not thoughtful

about the manner in which these new

terrestrial systems are allowed to operate in

or adjacent to frequency bands used to

provide satellite services, there can be

unintended consequences for the critical

satellite services offered throughout the

world,” he warns.

CONCERN. Sandberg also notes that the

cellular mobile industry is trying to get their

hands on the lower end of the C Band

satellite spectrum. “Given that the satellite

industry has a very large space-borne and

installed earth station infrastructure using

this band, it is of great concern to the

industry. The Global VSAT forum is

spearheading the satellite industry’s

response to this spectrum threat.”

“In today’s world, video content requires

several Zettabytes (a million, million,

Gigabytes) of data per year to be transmitted

to users,” advises Hölzle. “This demand will

increase as Ultra HD gains popularity, and

can hardly be met by terrestrial technologies

alone. It is therefore important that

European

policymakers

realise that

they need to incentivise

hybrid solutions that

combine satellite and

terrestrial technologies,

or risk wasting scarce

resources and public

money and deepening

the Digital Divide. To do

so, Europe will need to

preserve access to

spectrum for satellite

operators and not

allocate them to terrestrial mobile operators.

Europe also needs to foster technology

neutrality by granting satellite a level-

playing field with other technologies to best

serve its citizens.”

Shavit notes that the intention of the ITU

to transfer chunks of C-band spectrum in

favour of mobile operators has been around

for a few years. “Unfortunately it seems that

the decision has already been taken (not

officially, of course). This act will primarily

hurt developing regions where C-band is

extensively used for various

telecommunications services.”

BROADBAND. With a number of

commentators noting the role that satellite

will play in broadband connectivity, Pannell

says that Arqiva believes that the more

pressing conversation is about the role

satellite will play regarding non-real time

and catch-up TV services, where currently

there is a huge pressure on fibre broadband.

Wilson-Dunn agrees that satellite

connectivity for broadband is already an

important component of broadband

connectivity in many parts of the world

where geography makes fibre delivery

difficult or prohibitively expensive. “This can

be as diverse as getting broadband to oil rigs

and remote bank branches in Africa, through

to domestic broadband in remote parts of

the UK through VSAT (very small aperture

terminals dishes). BT operates a long

standing global VSAT business,” he advises.

According to Riera, non-linear

consumption as a driver for broadband

distribution is not currently negatively

impacting linear consumption. “The

Globecast view is that satellite should be

considered as part of an overall global

technological ecosystem including

broadband networks

and DTT broadcast

infrastructure.”

SPEED. Ostapiuik says

that when it comes to

broadband connectivity,

it’s about speed to

market, coverage and

cost to deploy services.

“Satellite services are quick to deploy and

can provide connectivity in even the most

remote area. Thus, satellite-enabled

broadband connectivity allows network

operators to quickly provide services in

remote areas. It can be incorporated into

existing cellular networks to expand services

into remote areas and also can be used to

deliver additional capacity in areas where

demand is growing rapidly.”

Sandberg says the satellite industry has

been leading the delivery of broadband

services for many years. “Video on demand

is a good example of the industry’s

leadership in this field. SES has a

development team that works on the video

and broadband applications for the home.

They work hand in hand with the earth

segment manufacturers to ensure that the

consumer continues to receive the rich

content now available over satellite,” he

advises.

Cox says: “The TV viewing experience is

moving to OTT platforms that have the

ability to react to technological

advancements at a much quicker pace. The

consumption of satellite TV will inevitably

decrease, meaning that it will merely fuel the

competition between OTT providers and

drive future development in the space,” he

suggests. Plunkett says that eventually the

day will come when DVB will become

obsolete and all transponders in service will

be configured to deliver ubiquitous IP

service only.

ESSENTIAL. “Satellite has always been

essential in providing broadband connectivity

in areas which do not have access to terrestrial

infrastructure, and will increasingly play an

even more important one in the future of the

connected world,” asserts Hölzle. In the last

year, SES has provided Astra Connect satellite

broadband services to villages in German and

the UK, all of which are aimed at improving

quality of life and competitiveness for

residents and businesses located in rural areas

respectively. The newly-launched SATMED

platform in Benin also illustrates how

broadband connectivity via satellite overcomes

lack of terrestrial infrastructures to connect

three hospitals across Benin.”

Shavit agrees that satellites are already

taking a very important role in broadband

connectivity, especially in developing regions

such as Africa, Asia and Latin America. “The

benefits of satellite over other (terrestrial)

means of connectivity are huge and without

satellite, many parts of the world would have

very (if any) limited access to broadband. We

believe the satellite industry is one of the

major factors promoting broadband around

the globe.”

24 EUROMEDIA

“Europeanpolicymakers needto incentivisehybrid solutionscombining satelliteand terrestrial.”Norbert Hölzle,SES

“OTT services willhave little effect onlinear TV serviceson satellite.”Dr. Eli Shavit,Spacecom.


Sky-high - Intelsat | The Globalized Network · Alan Crisp, analyst with specialist market research and consulting firm NSR, suggests that despite increasing concerns about web-based

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