Mumbai: Industry lobby group the Asian Video Industry Association’s (Avia’s) Satellite Industry Forum held in Singapore took a deep dive into the world of satellites for video, data and mobility with executives from Asia and overseas voicing their opinions around current trends and the future on 28 May.
The consensus was that while the market for the satellite ecosystem has been tough with some launch failures, hard macroeconomic forces, and caution amongst financiers and insurers about this segment, there is optimism on the horizon.
The bright star on the horizon has been the success of Elon Musk-owned Space Link’s direct-to-consumer StarLink low earth orbit (Leo) or non-geosynchronous orbit (NGSO) constellation which has notched up $1.4 billion in revenues by signing up millions of users. This, and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, led to a frenzy of consolidation amongst the geosynchronous orbit (GSOs) players, following questioning by financiers and board members on what play they have in the multi-orbital business.
Intelsat acquired Go-Go and followed up with an announcement that it itself was being acquired by big boy SES for a cash consideration of $3.1 billion. The marriage would create a giant with over 120 satellites in both the MEO and GEO legs of the business. Viasat meanwhile merged with Inmarsat, while Eutelsat fused with OneWeb.
Speakers expected the wave of digestion and consolidation of the industry to continue, and possibly intensify, even as players such as Rivada Space Networks, promising the outernet through Leos get ready to provide their services. Also, HummingSat, which is Swiss company SWISSto12 small GEO satellite has thrown its hat into the ring. Speakers at SIF opined that video will continue to be delivered increasingly via IP, thanks to streaming services, through fibre, terrestrially as well as through high throughput satellites.
SIF featured speakers such as Thaicom CEO Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri, ABS CEO Mark Rigolle, Asiasat chief commercial officer Raymond Chow, Measat Satellite Systems COO Yau Chyong Lim, Sky Perfect Jsat GM Asia regional headquarters & Singapore branch regional director Kenichi Shimotsuma, Milbank partner Dara Panahy, Global Satellite Operators Association VP policy & regulatory Peng Zhao, Amazon Web Services head of global satcom (A&S), APT Satellite EVP Huang Baozhong, Encompass VP, engineering & operations Mark Wardle, Lynk Global VP, Asia Pacific James Alderdice, Northern Telecom CTIO Mahdi Nazari Mehrabi, Wireless Nation operations adviser Martin Arias, GapSat CEO Gregg Daffner, Hughes Network Systems India president Pranav Roach, Curvalux & Saturn executive chairman Thomas Choi, Gilat Satellite VP regional sales Yossi Gal, VP Regional Sales, Hughes VP International Operations Kartik Sheshadri, Integrasys CEO Alvaro Sanchez, ST Engineering iDirect VP market development & strategy Jo De Loor, Acesat Satellite VP business development & engineering Adrian Potter, Baker & McKenzie Wong & Leow principal Ken Chia, Bird & Bird partner Thomas Jones, Partner, Marsh Speciality managing director Stephen Monks Office for Space Technology & Industry, Singapore (OSTIn) deputy director Jacinth Lau, Comsys partner Jeremy Rose, Arianespace Asia Pacific managing director Vivian Quenet, Boeing Satellite Systems VP business development Joe Bogosian, Space Machines chief commercial officer Mark Ramsey, HummingSat, SWISSto12 CTO Michael Kaliski, SpaceIntelReport co-founder & chief editor Peter de Selding, Eutelsat OneWeb regional VP-APAC Neha Idnani, Kacific Broadband Satellites Group EVP corporate development Jacques-Samuel Prolon, Planetcast CEO Sanjay Duda, Rivada Space VP of sales APAC Donald Chew, Rivers Advisers CEO Katherine Gizinski & chief consulting officer Alexis Martin and Avia CEO Louis Boswell.
