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SATMAGAZINE.COM
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Vol.2 No. 4 July-August 2004
CONTENTS TABLE OF
Click on the title to godirectly to the story
13/ Satellite Players Gear
Up for Athens 2004
23/ The Regulatory Environment in Latin America
20/ The Scourge ofInterference
3 / Note from the Editor
4 / Calendar of Events
5/ Industry News
9/ New Products and Services
11/ Executive Moves
26/ Market Intelligience:
Driving the Middle East’s and North
Africa’s Broadband Growth
(presented by the Global VSAT Forum)
28/ Stock Monitor/ Advertiser’s Index
17/Bringing theImages Home
FEATURE
It wouldn’t happen without satellite technology. With itsexpected worldwide audienceof over 25 billion people,$1.498 billion in TV rightscosts, and its universal appeal,the Athens 2004 SummerOlympics is sure to be thebiggest ever.
The Athens InternationalBroadcasting Center (IBC)which will end up housingmore than 15,000broadcasters and operate for24 hours a day feedingsignals to TV and radiostations around the world.
.
REGULAR DEPARTMENTS
By Dan Freyer By Chris Forrester
Vol. 2 No. 4July-August 2004
By Robert Ames
Satellite interference is becoming a major problem.
Third in a series on the LatinAmerican market, BernardoSchneiderman discusses the changing regulatory environmentin this important region.
By Bernardo Schneiderman
COVER STORY REGIONAL UPDATE
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Vol.2 No. 4 July-August 2004
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
Baden WoodfordContributing Writer, Africa
Jill Durfee([email protected])Advertising Sales
Joyce Schneider([email protected])Advertising Sales
Copyright © 2004Satnews PublishersAll rights reserved.
EDITORIALSilvano PaynePublisher
Virgil LabradorManaging Editorand Editor, North AmericaChris 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
NOTES FROM THE EDITOR
That’s One Small Step for Mankind...
When test pilot Michael Melville landed his privately-funded rocket ship in the Mojave desert
after completing the first non-government sponsoredmanned flight into outer space, he climb out of thecockpit and triumphantly simulated a rodeo cowboyriding his wild bronco. The display of bravado wascharacteristic of the gung-ho, can-do entrepreneurial
spirit that made possible this historic feat. Funded by Billionaire PaulAllen, co-founder of Microsoft, the rocket-powered spaceship, aptlynamed “SpaceShipOne” was designed by the legendary Burt Rutan.
Costing a mere $20 million, Space Ship One has emerged as the leadingcontender for the Ansari X Prize, a $10 million award to the first privatelyfinanced three-seat spacecraft to reach 62 miles and repeat the feat withintwo weeks. To win the X-Prize, private teams must finance, build and thenfly a three-person spacecraft 100 km (62 miles) to space, return safely, andthen demonstrate the reusability of their vehicle by flying it again withintwo weeks. By successfully reaching 62 miles to space and landing backsafely, it has made the proverbial first step to winning the prize.
The Ansari Prize is envisioned to achieve what previous prizes such asthe one for the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight won by CharlesLindberg in 1927 achieved in developing the $ 300 Billion a yearcommercial aviation industry.
A lot of the technology developed by the satellite communicationindustry will be very useful in the development of a commercial spacetransportation industry. So this important milestone, will have a long-term impact on the satellite industry--opening up yet another vital market.
More importantly, Melville’s flight rekindled the spirit of individualenterprise and innovation that will serve the space industry well as itmeets the challenges of this new millennium.
As Peter Garrison of Flying magazine aptly put it, playing on NeilArmstrong famous phrase upon landing in the moon: “It may have beenone small step for mankind, but it was one giant leap for a man.”
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CALENDAR OF EVENTSAugust 2004
August 29-September 2 Dubai, UAE SatCom Middle East 2004Lynn Nasser, Conference ManagerTel: +27 (0)11 463 2802 Fax: +27 (0)11 463 2802e-mail: [email protected]/2004/sat_AE/index.asp?&
September 2004
September 3-4 Seoul, Korea, APSCC 2004Inho Seo, Conference DirectorTel: +82 2 508 4883, Fax: +82 2 568 8593 Email: [email protected]://www.apscc.or.kr
September 7-11 Busan, Korea, ITU Telecom Asia 2004www.itu.int/asia2004
September 9-14 Amsterdam, The Netherlands IBC 2004Tel. +44 (0)20 7611 7500 Fax: +44 (0)20 7611 7530e-mail: [email protected]://www.ibc.org
September 13- 16 London, UK COMSAT VSAT Confrence 2004Tel. +44 (0)1727-832288e-mail: [email protected]://www.comsys.co.uk/vc04_mn.htm
September 13-16 Houston, Texas, USA Offshore Communications 2004Inger PetersonTel. +1-877-270-7102e-mail: [email protected]://www.offshorecoms.com
September 14-17 Tianjin, People's Republic of China PTC Mid-Year Seminar and Exhibition 2004Contact: Dolores FungTel.: +1.808.941.3789, ext.120e-mail: [email protected] www.my2004.org
September 28-30 St. Pete Beach, Florida, USA SUIRG CONFERENCE 2004Tel. and fax: +1-941-575-1277E-mail: [email protected]
September 30-October 2 Vicenza Fair, Italy SAT EXPO 2004Tel. +39-0444-543-133 Fax: +39-0444-543-466E-mail: [email protected]://www.satexpo.it/en/index.php
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INDUSTRY NEWS
The SES GLOBAL companies bring entertainment andexcitement to millions of homes across the world. TheSES GLOBAL family consists of the world’s premiersatellite operators, each a leader in its respective market:SES AMERICOM in the U.S. and SES ASTRA in Europe,as well as the partner companies AsiaSat in Asia, StarOne and Nahuelsat in Latin America, and SIRIUS inEurope. This network provides satellite communicationsacross the globe, with the unequalled depth of serviceand audience that only regional market leaders canprovide.
Worldwide and worldclass.
The Blackstone Group Acquires New Skies Satellitesfor $956 million
New Skies Satellites N.V. signed a definitive agreement for thesale of the company to affiliates of The Blackstone Group, aprivate investment firm, for $956 million in cash, equivalent toapproximately $7.96 per fully diluted share.
The Blackstone transaction has received unanimous approvalfrom the Supervisory and Management Boards of New Skies,who intend to recommend it to the company’s shareholders.
The sale will involve the transfer of New Skies’ business andoperations to Blackstone and the distribution of the cashproceeds to New Skies shareholders. The sale will be structuredas a sale of New Skies’ assets and liabilities. New Skies’ businessactivities will be continued under ownership by Blackstone andall employment obligations will be honored. The sale is subjectto regulatory approvals.
Goldman Sachs & Co. and N M Rothschild & Sons Limitedserved as financial advisors to New Skies, and Cleary, Gottlieb,Steen & Hamilton and De Brauw Blackstone Westbroek N.V.served as its legal advisers. Morgan Stanley and Deutsche BankSecurities, Inc. served as financial advisors to Blackstone, whileSimpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP and NautaDutilh N.V. served asits legal advisors. Deutsche Bank and ABN AMRO are providingacquisition financing for the transaction.
Alcatel and Finmeccanica to Merge their SpaceOperations
Alcatel and Finmeccanica announced the signature of amemorandum of understanding to merge their space activitiesand form alliances in the space sector through the creation oftwo sister companies, to which both partners will contribute theirrespective satellite industrial and service activities.
The first company, Alcatel Alenia Space, of which Alcatel willhold approximately 67% and Finmeccanica approximately 33%,will combine Alcatel Space and Alenia Spazio’s industrialactivities. It will concentrate on the design, development, andmanufacturing of space systems, satellites, equipment,instruments, payloads and associated ground systems. Themanagement team of Alcatel Alenia Space will be located inFrance.
The company will operate through five business divisions(Telecommunications, Optical Observation and Science,Observation Systems and Radar, Navigation, Infrastructure and
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INDUSTRY NEWS
Transportation). With estimated 2004 sales of 1.8 billion eurosand around 7,200 people, it will create one of the largest spacecompanies in Europe.
The second company, of which Finmeccanica will holdapproximately 67% and Alcatel approximately 33%, will combineTelespazio with Alcatel Space’s operations and servicesactivities. It will concentrate on operations and services forsatellite solutions, which includes control and exploitation ofspace systems as well as value-added services for networking,multimedia and earth observation. Its management team will belocated in Italy. With estimated 2004 sales of 350 millions eurosand around 1,400 people, it will be a key player in the spaceservices market.
The space alliance will be overseen and coordinated by adedicated Steering Committee, co-chaired by the CEOs ofFinmeccanica and Alcatel.
US, EU Reach Agreement on GPS
After years of negotiations, the US and the European Union (EU)have reached an agreement Monday, settling the technicaldispute between the US’ Global Positioning System with theplanned EU Galileo System.The agreement will be formallysigned June 26 at the U.S.-EU summit in Ireland.
The agreement follows an understanding reached earlier thisyear in Brussels to ensure non-interference and compatibilitybetween the two systems. The deal will be signed by U.S.Secretary of State Colin Powell and Loyola de Palacio, the EUcommissioner for transportation..
GPS, which currently uses 27 U.S. satellites is a satellitenavigation system developed and maintained by the U.S.government. Initially designed for military applications, civilianusers have found numerous applications using GPS. It enablesusers to accurately determine their position anywhere in theworld.. The planned Galileo System will use 30 satellites and isscheduled to launch service in 2008.
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INDUSTRY NEWS
General Dynamics to Acquire TriPoint GlobalCommunications
General Dynamics has entered into a definitive agreement toacquire Newton, N.C.-based TriPoint Global CommunicationsInc., a privately held provider of ground-based satellite andwireless communication equipment and integration services forvideo, voice and data applications. Terms of the agreement werenot disclosed.
The transaction has been approved by the boards of directors ofboth companies and is subject to regulatoryapprovals; it is expected to close in the thirdquarter of 2004.
TriPoint Global Communications and itsVertexRSI, Prodelin and Gabriel brandsprovide solutions for global satellite andwireless communications requirements. Thecompany is a supplier of base station andearth station communications products andservices, VSAT antennas and antennasystems and wireless backhaul products.The company has approximately 1,450employees in 14 locations, includingNewton, N.C.; Duluth, Ga.; San Jose andTorrance, Calif.; Rockaway, N.J.; StateCollege, Penn.; Kilgore, Longview, Mexiaand Richardson, Texas; and Estonia,Germany and India.
.TriPoint Global Communications willbecome part of the General Dynamics C4Systems business unit, which is a leadingintegrator of secure communication andinformation systems and technology. Withmore than 7,000 employees worldwide, thecompany specializes in command andcontrol, communications networking,computing and information assurance fordefense, government and select commercialcustomers in the United States and abroad.
General Dynamics, headquartered in FallsChurch, Va., employs approximately 68,400people worldwide and anticipates 2004revenues of $19 billion.
First Privately-Funded Manned Space Mission aSuccess
A privately-funded, rocket-powered spacecraft calledSpaceShipOne successfully exited the earth’s atmosphere todayand safely landed back at 8:15 PDT at the Mojave desert airportin California. The spacecraft was piloted by Mike Melvill andfunded by Billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft.Thespacecraft was designed by innovative aircraft designer BurtRutan and was reported to have cost $20 million.
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ISCe 2004 Attendees Optimistic About the SatelliteIndustryDelegates at the 3rd annual International Satellite andCommunications Conference and Expo (ISCe), which closed lastweek in LongBeach, CA,expressed theiroptimism aboutthe futuregrowth of thesatellite industry.
During ISCe, thepremier annualWest Coastconference andexposition forglobal leaders inthe satellite industry, delegates provided their opinions in atrends survey conducted by Futron Corporation and ISCeorganizer, Hannover Fairs USA, Inc.The survey, in which 63% ofthe over 700 ISCe delegates participated, focused on futurebusiness drivers, industry ownership trends and market trends inthe satellite industry.
Respondents confirm that new business growth over the past 12months has come from military/defense services, and that thegreatest revenue growth over the next 3 years is expected frommilitary/defense services.Sixty-nine percent (69%) of therespondents expect financial investments in the satellite industryincrease over the next 3 years, while 23% expect investmentlevels to remain the same. Sixty-nine percent (69%) see this as a
positive development for the satellite industry.Views on thestrength of revenuegrowth withinvarious satelliteindustry segmentsare generallyunanimouslypositive.
Sixty-nine percent(69%) ofrespondentsanticipate thestrongest revenuegrowth in satellite services, followed by ground equipmentmanufacturing (17%) and satellite manufacturing (10% ofrespondents). 3% of survey respondents believe that launchvehicle manufacturing would experience the largest revenuegrowth.Respondent views vary on the sources of revenuegrowth in specific satellite service categories.The greatestrevenue growth in satellite services is expected from broadband(39% of respondents), followed by direct-to-home television(22%), satellite radio (20%) and mobile (15%). Growth in VSATnetworks and applications is seen as a primary growth area by5% of survey respondents. Fifty-three percent (53%) of
respondents anticipate a return to sustainedgrowth from commercial customers in a 3-4 yeartimeframe, while 25% of respondents project thisinto the 1-2 year timeframe.
David Cavossa, Acting Executive Director of theSatellite Industry Association and co-host ofISCe, states, “While this survey reflects theeconomic outlook from the standpoint of thesatellite industry insiders who responded at ISCe2004, the critical importance of technicaladvancement and a sustainable economic healthof the satellite industry as it supports security,commerce and quality of life must be
remembered.”
Joachim Schafer, President of Hannover Fairs USA, Inc., theofficial organizer of ISCe comments, “This survey reflects thecurrent up-beat mood in the satellite industry and the healthyprospects industry leaders see in the military, civilian andcommercial segments of their market. It matches the palpableoptimism during this year’s ISCe conference.” He adds,“Hannover Fairs USA will continue in its efforts to support thesuccess of the satellite industry through events such as ISCe,which offers a unique forum for a productive informationexchange among key industry stakeholders, vendors and usersalike.” SM
There were actually two craft involved in the historic flight—ajet-powered aircraft called White Knight carried SpaceShipOneto 50,000 feet and released it using its own rocket power to theexit the earth’s atmosphere. After reaching approximately 62 milesaltitude, SpaceShipOne glided back safely into Mojave airport.
SpaceShipOne has emerged as the leading contender for theAnsari X Prize, a $10 million award to the first privately financedthree-seat spacecraft to reach 62 miles and repeat the feat withintwo weeks. To win the X-Prize, private teams must finance, buildand then fly a three-person spacecraft 100 km (62 miles) to space,return safely, and then demonstrate the reusability of theirvehicle by flying it again within two weeks.
The Ansari Prize is envisioned to achieve what previous prizessuch as the one for the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight wonby Charles Lindberg in 1927 achieved in developing the $ 300Billion a year commercial aviation industry. The Ansari Prizehopes to spur the development of the commercial space industry.
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NEW PRODUCTS
IP Access International launched a new IP Satellite mobilesolution during the recently-held ISCe show in LongBeach, CA . The mobile solution is housed in a ruggedly-fitter Hummer H2 and is targeted for Enterprise, HomelandSecurity, Defense Organizations and temporary back upapplications.
The solution is easy to operate and does not require atechnician. With a push of a button, the antennaautomatically acquires, peaks, and cross-polls the satelliteallowing for instant connectivity. The portable VSAT solution is
ideal for companies needing quick-deploy communicationsneeds for disaster recovery,Emergency first respondersituations, Enterprise MobileApplications, Remote filetransfer, Voice Over IP (VOIP),Terrestrial network restoration,Satellite News Gathering andother applications. Foradditional information [email protected] or
go to: www.ipinternational.net
IP ACCESS Introduces New Mobile IP Satellite Solution
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NEW PRODUCTS
SM
Force Inc. Introduces its SPECTRALinx 3000 Series
Force, Incorporated introduced the SPECTRALinx 3000 SeriesL-Band and IF Satellite Transport System. Designed forTeleport operators, the 3000 Series provides a state-of-the-artapproach to this demanding environment and meets or exceedsthe most stringent performance parameters required by theindustry.
The Model 3000 optically transports the entire L-Band frequencyrange (950 – 2250 MHz) while the Model 3070 transports theentire IF frequency range (10 – 200 MHz) with extendedfrequency ranges available upon request. Companion modulesallow the system to incorporate RS-32/422/485/Ethernet datatransport, Ethernet data only, RF switching for signalredundancy, and SNMP command and control of the system.
Stand-alone 3000, 3010, and 3070 modules are available in 1310nm, 1550 nm, CWDM, and DWDM configurations. Models 3000
and 3070 offer three user-selectable modes of gain control andprovide a number of system test points and indicator LEDs,further ensuring proper Teleport system operations. AdvancedDSP controls continuously monitor all critical parameters,ensuring optimum performance over the entire operatingtemperature range, extending the life of the product. The ruggedstand-alone enclosures can withstand the extreme environmentsexperienced by satellite installations. The 3RU modules use theModel 3000 chassis and power supplies. The chassis will holdtwo power supplies for fail-safe operation and may be orderedwith SNMP command and control capabilities. Designed toprovide unsurpassed performance to professional operators, the3000 Series is attractively priced against comparable competitivesystems, and offers complete system flexibility. For moreinformation call +1-800-732-5252 or go to: www.forceinc.com
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EXECUTIVE MOVES
David Cavossa Named New SIAExecutive Director
The board of directors of the SatelliteIndustry Association (SIA) has namedDavid Cavossa as the new executivedirector effective June 14, 2004.
Cavossa has servedas SIA’s director ofexternal relations thelast three years andas the actingexecutive directorduring the last twomonths. As executivedirector, Mr. Cavossa
will act as a chiefadvocate for satellite operators,manufacturers, value–added resellers,launch service providers, and groundequipment suppliers on a broad range oftrade, regulatory, and legislative issuesof common concern to the commercialsatellite industry.
Before joining the SIA, Cavossa workedat NASA Headquarters, in Washington,D.C., in the Office of External Relationsand in the Office of Legislative Affairswhere he participated in NASA’seducation and outreach campaign forCongressional staff.
Cavossa obtained a Master of Science,Technology and Public Policy from theGeorge Washington University (GWU),Space Policy Institute as a Space PolicyFellow. He also holds a Bachelor ofPhysics/Astronomy and PoliticalScience from Wheaton College, inNorton, Mass.
iDirect appointed KW Chan as VicePresident of sales for the Asia - PacificRim region. Chan willbe based at iDirect’snew Hong Kongoffice.Chan, a 23-yeartelecommunicationsveteran, was mostrecently with SESAmericom as theDirector of North EastAsia. Prior to SES, .Chan was General Manager, Broadcast &Fixed Satellite Systems at Cable &Wireless (Hong Kong Telecom) whilegaining his initial experience at BritishTelecom’s Wireless Division.
Chan is the co-author of a handbookoutlining the strategies of introducingnon-voice services such as packetswitching, videotex, or electronic fundtransfer into developing countries.
Educated in the UK, Chan received hisMBA from the University of Stirling. Healso holds a Technical EducationDiploma and a Certificate ofManagement from the British Institute ofManagement. Chan is also a member ofthe International TelecommunicationUnion’s (ITU) International andTelegraph and Telephone ConsultativeCommittee (CCITT) joint proposaldevelopment team.
iDirect Technologies Appoints of KWChan as VP of Sales and ManagingDirector, Asia - Pacific Rim
David Cavossa KW Chan
The Hong Kong-based Cable & SatelliteBroadcasting Association of Asia(CASBAA) announced last week duringCommunicAsia the appointment of HenryK. Middleton as CASBAA GeneralManager, Singapore & Southeast Asia.
Middleton will be responsible forCASBAA’s relationships withgovernment, memberorganizations and themulti-channeltelevision andbroadband industriesas a whole, as well asimplement a CASBAAdecision in 2003 toformally open an officein Singapore.
CASBAA Appoints Middleton ToNew Post as General Manager,SouthEast Asia
Henry Middleton
Tom Goebelbecker has been appointedVice President, Sales of TriPoint Global’sVertexRSI Programs Division in Duluth,Ga. Goebelbecker joined TriPoint GlobalCommunications last year as VicePresident, Sales for the company’s Gabrielbusiness unit. He will report to BradMajeres, Vice President and GeneralManager of Duluth’s Programs Division.
Goebelbecker holds a Bachelor of ScienceDegree in Manufacturing Engineeringfrom Miami University, Oxford, OH.
Tom Goebelbecker Named VicePresident, Sales for VertexRSIPrograms Division
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SM
GlobeCast has appointed Tim Richard asGeneral Manager, Government ServicesGroup based at the company’s office inWashington, D.C. Richard will beresponsible for developing new businesswith the U.S. federal government, U.S.Department of Defense agencies, as wellas state, local, and internationalgovernmental organizations.
Richard brings over 21 years ofexperience in the military and defense-related industries, primarily in thecommand, control, communications,computers, intelligence, surveillance andreconnaissance (C4ISR) arena. Richard
Tim Richard Joins Globecast NorthAmerica as General Manager,Governments Services Group
Clark Pettit Appointed Senior VicePresident of Ascent Media Group’sGlobal Digital Media Center
EXECUTIVE MOVES
formerly held positions in governmentservices for PanAmSat, Q.E.D. SystemsInc, and SEMCOR, as well as served 10years in the U.S. Navy.
Clark Pettit has been named Senior VicePresident of Ascent Media Group’s(AMG) Global Digital Media Center(DMC) based in Burbank, Calif.With nearly two decades of experiencein strategy, operations management,digital asset management solutions andB2B integration, Pettit joins AscentMedia Group from EMI Music Group,where he served ten years, most recently
as Vice President,Global DigitalOperations and AssetManagement. In thatrole, Pettit oversaw thestrategic planning andoperations thatestablished the globaldigital supply chain and the migration ofmusic to digital products. Previously, hewas with DOW Chemical where hemanaged a variety of informationtechnology projects.
Clark Petit
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COVER STORY
Satellite Players Gear Up for Athens 2004By Dan Freyer
It wouldn’t happen without the wide reach of satellitetechnology. With its expected cumulative worldwide audience
of over 25 billion people, $1.498 billion in TV rights costs, and itsuniversal appeal, the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics is sure to bethe biggest ever.
The existence of more channels in TV markets everywhere–duein large part to the power of satellite television’s global growth –is upping the competitive stakes for programmers. To stayahead, more programmers need to air more hours of the joy ofvictory and agony of defeat. Dick Ebersol, chairman of NBCUniversal Sports and Olympics says NBC will “showcase the
Summer Olympics in unprecedented fashion and to take on thedaunting challenge of producing as much total programmingfrom Athens as the last five Summer Olympics combined”. Theresources needed to complete the Olympian job of producingand delivering 3,800 hours of live game signals for airing innearly 200 countries is growing by leaps and bounds.
Thanks to the satellite industry’s commitment of infrastructureand talent — behind the scenes and on the scene — it will be
The Olympic stadium is still not complete as of presstime (photo taken June 16 from stadium shotposition through GlobeCast), but the satellite serviceproviders are all raring to go.
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easier than ever for international broadcasters to get thejob done in Athens 2004.
A Signal Feat
To help Olympics broadcast rights holders, the Hostbroadcaster, Athens Olympics Broadcast (AOB) has beenset up to produce the official “International Signal “(IS)with cameras and graphics at each live venue. AOB ismassive. Its crew and staff of nearly 3800 will use over1000 cameras, 450 videotape machines, 350 broadcasttrailers and 55 outside broadcast vans. During the 3800hours of broadcasting, AOB is set up to operate 1795commentator positions to support 12,000 accreditedjournalists.
Clean signals from the venues are delivered to the InternationalBroadcast Center (IBC), the official origination point ofbroadcast signals for rights holders.
From mid July until October 2004, the IBC will be the world’slargest Broadcaster facility, with a population of 10,000 staffrunning 24/7, and broadcasting nearly fifty event channel feedsfor onward worldwide distribution.
Despite their incredible scale, the government-approved officialIBC and Host Broadcaster don’t provide nearly enough facilitiesto meet all the needs of the global broadcaster community.Rights holders want additional customized services and havetheir own production needs. Non-rights holders have still moreproduction, post production, tape and live transmission needs,and are not permitted in the AOB or IBC.
Go Team
To meet these needs, The Athens Broadcast Base was set upthrough an alliance between GlobeCast, Gearhouse Broadcast,and Stefi Productions.
GlobeCast is a leading satellite services company, operating aglobal network of distribution platforms for broadcast andadvanced content delivery with presences on six continents with15 teleports and technical operation centers in leading mediacities. Stefi Productions is one of the largest productioncompanies in Greece. Gearhouse Broadcast is a global broadcastsolutions company providing equipment rental and sales, projectand production solutions based in London, Los Angeles and
Sydney with a centralized infrastructure including 24/7 technicalsupport.
The Broadcast Base offers non-rights holders a one-stop-shopfor all of their production and broadcast requirements, includingstudios, work space, broadcast equipment, worldwide satellitetransmissions, uplinking facilities, playout, conversion, encodingand mobile SNG facilities. The Broadcast Base has attempted toanticipate and provide for broadcasters every possible need--from linear and non-linear edit suites, multi-camera studios andcontrol rooms in the facility to flyaway units, HD gear, ENGcameras and lenses, and crews, engineering services.
Familiar with GlobeCast from its decades of experience providingmajor broadcast facilities for summer and winter Olympics, theGlobal who’s who of broadcasters have signed up forGlobeCast’s Broadcast Base services, including: Sky Sports, SkyNews, ITN, and Reuters in the UK and Mediaset, Italy; CNN andCBS from North America, TV Azteca and TV Globo from LatinAmerica, 9 Network Australia; ATV and TVB in Hong Kong andTV Asahi and Fuji TV, Japan, and the Taiwan Pool in Asia.
Olympic Satellites: Love ‘em and Leave ‘em
Thanks to successful satellite launches recently, and thedeployment of new capacity onto orbit over Asia and Europe,satellite providers are poised to meet the huge, but short-lived,
COVER STORY
GlobeCast Athens 2004 Broadcast Base
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surge in demand that the Olympics create from July to October2004.
The European Broadcasting Union(EBU) – an association of 71 publicand national broadcasters in 52countries in Europe, North Africaand the Middle East — will doubleits full-time capacity on Eutelsatduring the Olympics. The EBUhas booked the equivalent of 306MHz of Ku-band capacity onEutelsat’s ATLANTIC BIRD™ 3and e-BIRD™ and pre-launchcapacity on the just-commissioned W3A spacecraft, at7°East.
In addition to contributioncircuits to affiliates, the EBU will deliver 800 hours of live eventcoverage. The EBU is setting up an infrastructure dedicated tothe event, deploying a new uplink site to deliver a total of 36nonstop program feeds, 32 of which will be carried by Eutelsat.Says Stefan Kürten, Director of the Eurovision Operations “ForAthens 2004 the EBU will go beyond the threshold of 1 Gbit/s ofbandwidth”. “This is a new historical record.” he adds.
Hellas Sat Makes The Gods Proud
Greek and Cypriot-owned bird, Hellas-Sat which started servicelast year will perform its Olympic debut as GlobeCast and othersplan use its capacity. The Astrium-built satellite’s Ku-Bandfootprint is designed for optimal performance over Greece andneighboring areas.
The Asia-Pacific Broadcast Union (ABU), an association ofbroadcasters with over 100 members from 52 countries in theregion, plans to use two transponders on Intelsat’s IS-709 bird at85ºE for delivery of the Olympic service primarily because thesingle “global beam” footprint reach from the Asia and Pacific toAfrica. ABU will provide coverage for its members, creatingeight channels of events for distribution. Intelsat will offer AOR,POR and IOR capacity for its clients. The Bermuda-basedcompany received US FCC authority last summer to use the IS-709 satellite at the new 85.1°E orbital location, and although fewif any C-band antennas point to the bird today, a successfulOlympic transmission could help popularize the orbital positionto Asian satellite users.
COVER STORY
Meanwhile, PanAmSat will be offering approximately 17satellite paths for the Olympics and over 6,000 hours using itsPAS-1, PAS-3, PAS-4 and PAS-9 satellites.
Bring Your OwnTeleport in Case ofFire
Getting enough uplinkantennas and gearapproved by the Greekgovernment,frequency cleared,coordinated, testedand deployed is ahuge challengebecause many of thesatellites have neverbeen used before, or
dedicated uplinks and fiber tail circuits to them just aren’tavailable. The fact that a fire broke out in a room used by theGreek telecommunications company OTE, which when somecables apparently overheated near the Olympic press buildinghas not exactly calmed nerves.
Thankfully other uplink options are available in case OTEcapacity is stretched too thin, and flyways are allowed and willabound around Athens. The EBU has imported its own uplinkcomplex. NBC has flyaways. CBS found a home away fromhome for its two dedicated live positions with views of theOlympic Stadium, dedicated flyaway uplink facilities, and officemodules at the Broadcast Base. CNN has separate livepositions, a dedicated flyaway uplink and workspace from theBroadcast Base as well.
Partnering for Success
Given the sheer size of the Olympic production and disparateneeds of broadcasters, no single company can handle theneeds of all broadcast clients. Satellite services are noexception to the approach of partnering for success.
For instance PanAmSat is packaging Broadcast Base servicesfor its clients through GlobeCast, while GlobeCast will providetwo Scientific Atlanta PowerVu-format MCPC uplink for theAmericas via PanAmSat’s PAS-1R bird, and one via its PAS-4bird for Asia and Africa. On the Asia side, Hong Kong over-
Globecast SNG Vans
will be positioned
throughout Athens. (photo: Globecast)
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the-air broadcasters TVB and ATV have signed up withGlobeCast for six digital satellite channels.
Satellite and Fiber: Contributing to Redundancy
While fiber is playing a key role in point-to-point contributioncircuits, it’s by no means eclipsed the role of satellite, and keybroadcasters from North America to South America to Asia aretapping both technologies’ strengths as complementaryinsurance against failure or degradation of one physical pathduring air time.
Observes broadcast consultant Lynne Rowe, President of OneWorld Technologies:
“A number of players are using satellite for path redundancyalthough their main backhaul path may use fiber. Theinternational fiber link from OTE, the monopoly Greekinternational telco’s main European terminating point in Londonis fed off a spur between Italy and the UK which was still beingconstructed this year, and that made some folks nervous aboutit.”
For the U.S. NBC, will run six feeds out of the IBC plus six SNGsystems each with 4-channel digital transmit capabilities viaAT&T fiber and satellite capacity. Brazil’s TV Globo hasordered satellite circuits from Athens, but also requiredGlobeCast and Embratel – its network providers – to providededicated two-way fiber paths to connect Brazil with its signalscoming from the IBC. The Taiwanese broadcast pool of rightsholders tapped GlobeCast’s ability to provide a multi-channelglobal satellite feed complemented by a fiber path in addition tocoordinating all production, transmission facilities and fiberwithin Athens with an on-site technical team.
Setting New Records
While Olympic satellite transponder requirements may be short-lived, the huge TV production and promotion budgets for theevent provide great opportunities to innovate and deploy thelatest start-of-the art equipment that meets spec as vendors andTV exec try to leverage the publicity of the event to promotetheir organizations.
In a U.S.-broadcast-first, NBC will air 24-hour coverage, will forthe first time cover every Olympic sport, with High Definitioncoverage alone nearly 800 hours, and NBC-owned Telemundo
COVER STORY
will provide the first exclusively non-English live Olympicsbroadcast in US history when it televises the games in Spanish.Another tech first, NBC will use Sony’s new XDCAMprofessional disc system to create profiles of athletes andprovide related news from in and around Athens.
As Athens races to finish construction, satellite industryobservers and fans will be pleased to know satellite technologyis alive and kicking at the forefront in bringing the Olympics toyour local TV system, no matter where you are in the world —live!
Dan Freyer is Director of Marketing, inAmerica for GlobeCast, one of theworld’s leading satellite services company, operatng aglobal network of satellite distribution platforms for DTHand cable broadcast, enterprise media and advanced IP-based content delivery. He can be reached [email protected]
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Vol.2 No. 4 July-August 2004
COVER STORY
Getting the Images Home
By Chris ForresterSatMagazine Editor forEurope, Middle East and Africa
ISB’s Manolo Romero
Athens 2004 Coverage:
Greece’s national broadcaster ERT is mounting is biggest-ever TV operation to help cover the games. They are workingwith the Athens Olympic Broadcasting unit to help put in placeand produce:
••••• Coverage of 301 sporting events••••• More than 1000 cameras••••• 4450 VTRs••••• 3500 hours of live output••••• 350 Broadcast trailers••••• 12,000 accredited broadcast personnel••••• 52 TV remote production trucks (OBs)••••• 1795 commentary positions
To say that broadcasting the OlympicGames is in the hands of one man
would be something of an exaggeration.But Manolo Romero is arguably the mostpowerful man in the Olympic Games’stelevision coverage, and has been formore than 30 years (since the Mexico Citygames in 1968). He is now chief executiveof International Sports Broadcasting(ISB), the private company he establishedand which was Host Broadcaster for theSalt Lake City 2002 event, and theupcoming Athens and Turin games. ISBserves as television consultant to theInternational Olympic Committee, is amember of its Radio & TelevisionCommission and its Executive Group, andis television advisor to the InternationalAmateur Athletics Federation.
More importantly Romero is the man withthe eye for the so-called “beauty shots”,frequently the single image that ends upbeing the most remembered of a particularGames. Few will forget the high-divingimages from Barcelona, when the diverswere televised against a brilliant blue sky– and nothing else, or the thrillingmoment when the jet-pack wearingspecialists entered the arena during theLos Angeles games. During previousOlympics, he served as chief executive ofSydney’s Broadcasting Organization, inthe same capacity at the 1996 Atlantaevent and head of InternationalOperations for ABC for Los Angeles 1984.He has received several Emmys and
awards including the IOC Golden Ringsand Spanish “Ondas.”
At Sydney there were constant ‘beautyshots’ set up for broadcasters, includingthe Olympic cauldron where the flameburned constantly, activity on the Olympic
Boulevardas well asthe iconicOperaHouse andSydneyHarbourbridgeviews, andthat ofDarlingHarbourwith the
city skylinein the distance. Indeed, one radio-camerawas set up on the busy Sydney Harbour toManly ferry-boat just to show the crowdstravelling between two of Sydney’s keylocations. Broadcasters could dip intothese images as a backdrop to their own
coverage. But it is Romero’s guidinghand that’s largely responsible for theimages we see from the openingceremony on Friday, August 13th, 2004,to the final moments.
As this is written the final touches arebeing made to the Athens InternationalBroadcasting Center (IBC) which will endup housing more than 15,000broadcasters (radio, television and Web/internet), and operate for 24 hours a dayfeeding signals to TV and radio stationsaround the world. It is probably theworld’s most complex and sophisticatedbroadcasting operation, and it’s built forthe two weeks or the games (and theimmediately following Para-Olympics)and then discarded, only to recreatedtwo years later (on a somewhat moremodest scale for the Turin winter games),and then rebuilt for Beijing, China.Sydney’s IBC covered 58,000 sq meters.Athens is bigger at 70,000 sq meters.Overlay work in Sydney began inNovember 1999, almost a year ahead ofthe event, and the IBC was partially
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COVER STORY
operational on 15 August 2000. It wasshut down as an operating facility on 3October 2000. The Athens IBC complexcomprises the fully revamped HELEXPObuilding (the National ExhibitionOrganizer), and two other new buildings.
The Olympics is larger and more complexthan even the soccer (FIFA) World Cup,which although probably capturing moreglobal eyeballs is a much morestraightforward task than the Olympics.The soccer games are just 4 hours ofintense activity, albeit with national opt-outs and unilaterals covering specific-interest matches.
Romero has his task made a little easier bythe grouping of various regionalbroadcasting organisations, like theEuropean Broadcasting Union, the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), ArabStates Broadcasting Union (ASBU),South America’s Organizacion de laTelevision Iberoamericana (OTI) and thenlooser tie-ups like the TV image poolsorganized by Japan, China, Korea andothers. However, most major national
broadcasters also have their owndedicated feeds to take care of, andoutfits like North America’s giant NBC,the sports-mad Australian broadcasters,Japan and the UK’s BBC, all havededicated facilities at the InternationalBroadcasting Center, taking uniquecoverage of some events as well asmopping up hundreds of hours of all-embracing television. Romero says thatfour years ago at Sydney some 90% ofall Olympic action, whether heats orfinals, was covered live somewhere onthe planet.
During the actual games, Romero’sTechnical Operations and Engineeringdepartment is responsible forgenerating the video and audio signalsfrom venues into the IBC anddistributing those signals out tobroadcasters. They use an extensivenetwork of ‘guest’ broadcastingspecialists drawn from well-knowninternational names, like the BBC andRAI, and private OB companies likeEurope’s AlfaCam. Romero’s departmentmaintains commentary systems at theindividual venues and the IBC, will lookafter all broadcast technical equipmentat venues and the IBC, will implement all
broadcast telecommunications(‘talkback’) needs at venues and the IBCas well as overseeing the constructionintegrity of the infrastructure at the IBC.
Having the circuits in place and thecameras ready is but one part of themammoth logistical exercise. Technicaloperations works closely with theBookings office, to help coordinatebroadcaster’s specific demands. Forexample, booking schedules availability ofradio and television studios, edit suites,post-production and off-tube positions atthe IBC and pre and post unilateral videoand audio transmissions. In addition,Booking assigns electronic newsgathering (ENG) camera platforms at thevenues, collects and provides schedulesfor daily unilateral transmissions andcommentator usage at the venues, anddistributes all-important bibs andarmbands for camera platforms, parkingpasses, observer seat allocations andspecial tickets for station VIPs. Booking isalso judge and jury in arbitrating anyconflicts in camera platforms, premium
One of the “beauty shots” Romero isfamous for.
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COVER STORY
ticket allocations and unilateraltransmissions at daily briefings.
Already Romero has already held pre-event briefings, under the umbrella‘World Broadcaster Meeting’. Back at theSydney games, more than 200 individualrights-holders sent (in some cases huge)broadcast teams to cover attended theGames in order to send unique footage,sometimes live, sometimes taped, back tobase.
Multilateral signals are identified, levelchecked and equalised in the contributionarea of the Transmission/DistributionCentre (TDC). The signals are thensynchronised and the format converted toPAL or standard digital, depending uponthe format in which they are originated. InSydney the multilateral signal ‘bundle’consisted of 40 active feeds and anothertwo feeds for test and synchronization.Outbound national and internationalsignals were monitored in thetransmission area of the TDC. The TDC atSydney claimed the world’s largest videowall, comprising 400 individual monitors.Athens will provide even more.
Furthermore, Eutelsat and the EuropeanBroadcasting Union (EBU) have signed acontract for four wideband transpondersthat will be used by the EBU for televisioncoverage of the Games. The additionalsatellite capacity will allow the EBU toprovide private direct point-to-pointcircuits between Athens and theheadquarters of television channels thathave their own TV crews and contentaggregation facilities in Athens. Inaddition to these private circuits, the EBUwill simultaneously deliver 800 hours oflive coverage with ambient sound to its 71members.
The allocation and swapping of programsis a major part of the EBU’s activities. TheEBU is setting up an infrastructurecompletely dedicated to the Olympics,
deploying a newteleport on-sitewhich will delivera total of 36 non-stop programfeeds, 32 of whichwill be carried byEutelsat. The 16studios that willhave a direct linkto the Athensteleport arelocated inMoscow, Tehran,Belgrade,Budapest,Bratislava,Madrid, Zagreb,Ljubljana,Odense, Helsinki,London, Paris,Mainz, Oslo,Stockholm andHilversum.
And this year’s Olympics represents amajor step-change in broadcastingdemand, in both circuits and videocomplexity because almost every cameracovering the games will be capturing itsimages in breathtaking High Definition.Some lucky American, Japanese, Koreanand Australian viewers, who own HDequipment, will be able to enjoy Romero’simages. The rest of the world will have tomanage with Standard Definition quality.One can only wonder how that positionmight have changed by the time Chinaopens its doors to Romero and his team in2008.
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, havinginterviewed at length the operational heads of each of the main channels andpay-TV platforms. He can be reached at [email protected]
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Vol.2 No. 4 July-August 2004
FEATURES
The Scourge of Interference
By Robert AmesPresident, SUIRG
It started out as just another Saturday. April 26, 1986 John R.MacDougall spent the day alone at his satellite TV dealership
in Ocala, Florida, waiting for customers who never came. “Itwas,” he says, “a normal day in the doldrums of the satellite TVindustry.” But that night, MacDougall, would set the world ofsatellite television spinning.
January 15, 1986 is when Home Box Office became the first payTV service to scramble its signal full time. Other services werefollowing HBO’s lead. Dish owners were balking at the cost ofdescramblers and program fees.
On that fateful night, HBO was airing the Sean Penn andTimothy Hutton espionage movie, The Falcon and the Snowman.It was at 12:32 a.m. Sunday, April 27, that John R. MacDougallpushed the transmit button on his console and turned intoCaptain Midnight.
For 4 ½ minutes, HBO viewers in the eastern United States sawthis message:
It was at this moment that John MacDougall became infamousand satellite operators recognized the fragility of their service.
Flashing forward to the year 2003, almost all satellite operatorshave interference management programs/procedures in-place tomitigate the impact of unknown carriers uplinking into theirsatellites disrupting service.
What is Interference?
Within the telecommunications industry, in simple terms,interference is an unwanted
signal mixing with an authorized signal, causing it to bedegraded. Sometimes the level of interference can degrade theoriginal signal to a point where it is corrupted for an extendedperiod of time. A majority of the incidents are unintentional andshould be manageable by satellite operators, who expendconsiderable resources to minimize the number of incidents and/or impact of interference on their operations.
Interference Sources
Interference can have many sources. By way of example,interference may be caused by: system malfunctions, poorpolarization control, improper antenna pointing, untrainedoperator mistakes, insufficient knowledge of new equipment,abandoned and uncontrolled satellite communicationsequipment, deliberate interference, and even intentionalterrorism.
A typical satellite system might have as many as eight thousandtransmitting antennas and twelve thousand individualcommunications carriers. A VSAT network can have many moretransmitting antennas within a single network. Statisticalprobabilities ensure there will be occasions when anunintentional transmission disrupts an existing service. Whenthis occurs, system quality is impacted and monitoring resourcesmust be used to locate the offending source and restore normaloperation.
As the number of satellites continues to increase, there is acorresponding increase in the number of uplinking satellitedishes, which are the terrestrial source points for interfering
Figure1: Transmit Antenna Growth
0
5000
10000
15000
20000
1995 1998 2001 2004
GOOD EVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT$12.95/month
NO WAY!(SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE)
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FEATURES
signals. According to a report from Euroconsult, the Paris basedconsultancy, their “most probable” projection for new geo-synchronous satellites to be ordered by end-2007 is 177. The“possible” high-field estimate adds another 69 orders, for apossible 246 new satellites. An indication of the growth intransmitting antennas since 1995 is shown in figure 1. This doesnot address the obviously aggravating trend toward 2° satellitespacing.
Interference Management
The RFI problem requires a new approach to the problemcombining improved management of operations, enhanced usertraining, and active techniques to quickly locate and remove thesources of interference. All satellite operators have at least aminimal interference management program in-place; the majoroperators have expended or are expending considerableresources in internal processes and interference geo-locationidentification systems.
Interference management procedures at most major satelliteoperations centers follow the following major actions inattempting to identify the source of aninterfering signal:
•Customer contacts Operations Center(Ops Center), reporting complaint ofinterference to their services.
•Ops Center collects interferenceinformation from customer, e.g.:satellite ID, transponder, centerfrequency (CF), bandwidth (BW), andtype of service affected to characterizethe interference.
•Ops Center controllers then utilize interference locationprocedures and tools such as spectrum analyzers to view thesignal in an attempt to further characterize said interference.
•Cross check carrier databases, carrier frequencies and theirtransponders associated with each satellite check for CF,incorrect polarity, adjacent carrier interference or earth stationsperforming lineups.
•Review past interference signature plots for possible repeatedinterference.
•If all above the fail, the controller sends a telex message to allstations with the capability of transmitting to spot, hemispheric,zone or global beams.
•The message requests each uplink station to verify operation oftheir station equipment and plot their signals on their spectrumanalyzer. Operator is requested to forward the plots to identify ifa similar signal is being transmitted from their HPA.
•When all stations have responded to the message and havesent plots, and if the spurious emission has still not beenremoved, the Ops Center will resort to point-off procedures.
•Point-off requires each station within the beam to move theirantenna off beam center until a receive level reduction of 50%has been observed on the spectrum analyzer. The procedure isrepeated with each station until all addresses on the list havebeen contacted.
Advanced tools such as transmitter locator systems (TLS) arenow available from multiple vendors to assist satellite operators
in the geo-location of interferencesources. The system is based on thefact that the offending antenna’s mainlobe is accessing the primary satellite,while its side lobe is radiating thesame coherent information in asignificantly reduced level to anadjacent spacecraft.
By simultaneously receiving thesignals from both spacecraft,correlation techniques can be used toderive a Time Delay of Arrival(TDOA) and a Frequency Delay of
Arrival (FDOA) or differential Dopplershift. Given the geometry of the transmitting antenna and twospacecraft, the TDOA data provides a longitudinal Line OfPosition (LOP) whereas the FDOA data provides a latitudinalLOP.
The intersection of these two lines provides the geographicallocation of the offending station. The concept is illustrated inFigure 2, below. In practice, because of very low signal levelsand low signal-to-noise ratios, the position is indicated by anerror probability ellipse.
Interferer
RF-to- Baseband
Digitize & Store
Correlator
RF-to Baseband
Digitize & Store
Sidelobe power
Very small snr
Primary
Adjacent
TDOA
Interfering Signal
v
v
fI+dP
fI+ df
Figure 2: TLS Operational Configuration
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FEATURES
Summary
Interference is a long-term global problem that affects all users.It is exacerbated by the trend of satellite transmitting companiesof minimizing costs by reducing operations staff and equipmentcosts and increasing automation.
Through SUIRG, satellite operators are increasingly united intheir efforts to incorporate and advocate transmission practicesthat assist the user community to be more responsible and tounderstand the consequences of radio interference.
Because satellite interference is globally indiscriminate, elevenyears ago domestic and international satellite operators formedan informal group to focus on sharing interference incidents,mitigation approaches and identification of faulty equipment.The group is called the Satellite Users Interference ReductionGroup (SUIRG). It meets at least annually to share interferenceincidents, identify causes and successful approaches to quicklyidentifying and mitigating the geo-location of interference.
SUIRG was incorporated in September 2003. The purposes of theSUIRG are:
1. To develop means to reduce RFI on communicationsatellites.
2. To promote and further equipment design with the view tominimize interference.
3. To share for the mutual benefit all information related tospecific troublesome interference situations.
Robert Ames is President of SUIRGInc. He can be reached [email protected]
The Organization and its Members, in pursuit of the statedPurposes, agree to act in accordance with the followingPrinciples:
1. To promote an open forum in which all segments of theinternational satellite community can cooperate in theadvance and exchange of ideas on Interference Reduction.
2. To maintain and extend cooperation among all Members ofthe Group for the improvement and exchange of InterferenceReduction issues and techniques.
3. To promote and to offer technical assistance to all Membersin the resolution of Radio Frequency Interference.
About Satellite Users Interference Reduction Group (SUIRG)
SUIRG, Inc. P.O. Box 512548
Punta Gorda, FL 33951-2548 PH/FX: 1-941-575-1277
[email protected] www.suirg.org
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Vol.2 No. 4 July-August 2004
Regulatory Status in Latin America(Third in a series on the Latin American market)
REGIONAL UPDATE
By Bernardo SchneidermanSatMagazine Editor for Latin America
The Regulatory Bodies in eachcountry have been working with theITU (International Telecommunication Union www.itu.int, )CITEL (Inter-American Telecommunication Commissionwww.citel.oas.org) and with GVF (Global VSAT Forumwww.gvf.org). All these organizations have been supporting theopening of the market in the region to facilitate the penetration ofthe broadband services via satellite in the rural and remote areasof the region and to democratize the use of the technology andbridge the digital divide.
Among the countries that have the best open environment inLatin America is Chile. Chile adopted the Open Skies Policy(Subtel www.subtel.cl) - that was implemented in late 2000 andgive the freedom for satellite operators to provide serviceswithout a need to replicate license in the country for the satellitethat has already been licensed in countries. Additionallysatellite is not considered a major service but as part of the
infrastructure to provide phone, Internet and data services.Currently Chile is expecting to implement two major projects thatwill jump start satellite services in the market. One project is toprovide to more than 1,600 hospital and health care clinicsInternet and data services with the same level in big cities orisolated communities. Another project is to provide Internetaccess for schools and libraries. These projects are to belaunched in the third quarter of 2004.
Brazil is another country where satellite has been open by theregulatory body Anatel – www.anatel.gov.br. Today any satellite
operator could provide services inBrazil but is required to pay a licensefee and need to have a localrepresentative or open a local office.Today Anatel has 32 foreign satelliteauthorized to provide service in Brazilthat comply with the regulatoryenvironment.
Among the main projects in Brazil are:Petrobras (major Brazilian oil company)with a network of 800 sites with morethan 12 different applications). Telemara regional telco that cover almost 50%of the region which include the AmazonForest is required by Anatel to provideservice in more than 4000 cities by2005. The project will bring up to 50%of the locations with satellite reach but
could end with some provider to offer 100% with satellitesolutions. In addition the Brazilian Government is planning toopen new licenses for Data Services that can provide IP accessto all schools in Brazil.
In the Caribbean Region several government are looking toimplement Internet services via satellite for schools, colleges anduniversities . As example Puerto Rico just signed a new InternetSchool program with a satellite provider using IP base VSATtechnology supplied by iDirect to provide Internet access tomore than 1,600 schools. The majority of the countries in theCaribbean region at this moment are evaluating the opening ofthe market for satellite services.
Latin America is one of the key regions for satellitecommunication applications becauseof its geographically
diverse environment. The region includes the Amazon Forestthat covers major parts of Brazil, Peru, Colombia and Venezuela.The Southern Cone where the Patagonia region include majorparts of Argentina and Chile with low density population but hasbecome during the last few years one of the major centers of thefishing industry with theproliferation of salmon farms.Additionally the Caribbean regionbecause of their unique geographiclocation in the region becomes oneof the hot spot for SatelliteApplications.
With all this environmental factorsplus the economic potential of theregion, regulatory bodies has beenslowly open the market for moreofferings of satellite capacity andfacilitate penetration of satelliteservices in the region.
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REGIONAL UPDATE
Mexico after a long period of satellite monopoly with Satmex,opened its market to other service provider two years ago. NowInternational satellite carrier are authorized to provide satelliteservices in the country. Mexico has been implementing VSAT forschool and universities for the last 10 year with funding by theFederal Government for new providers and with the Internetexpansion more projects are on the way to provide Internet forschools and libraries throughout Mexico.
Rounding up the region, Peru, Colombia and the other Andeancountries are probably the least open markets, but are alsoconsidering various satellite options for distance education andother applications.
In conclusion, CITEL has been very vital in promotingregulatory reform and opening the markets for satellite servicesin Latin America. Last year CITEL adopted a set ofrecommendations by the GVF, which would greatly help furtherthe opening up of the Latin American market. To wit:
CITEL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALL THE REGULATORYBODIES IN LATIN AMERICA:
1. CITEL Administrations encourage the developmentof broadband via satellite by implementingappropriate and flexible regulatory frameworks thatwill allow for the rapid implementation, access anduse of broadband services.
2. CITEL Administrations consider the use ofbroadband as an important way to supportintegration and national growth, within theireconomic and social development projects.
3. CITEL electronic forum (REGSAT) be maintained,having the purpose of preparing draft guidelines forthe implementation of national regulations that favorthe deployment of the broadband systems bysatellite.
4. that, in order to encourage the deployment of satelliteinfrastructure, particularly for broadband services,pursuant to the Resolutions issued by the 2001Summit of the Americas, “ministries or departmentsresponsible for telecommunications and appropriateregulatory bodies” without prejudice to theapplication of the national regulations associatedwith the provision of services and the installationand operation of networks, consider the possibility of
including in their national regulations conceptsassociated with:
a) “Block” or “Generic” Earth Station Licensing: To theextent possible, streamline licensing procedures tofacilitate the rapid deployment of satellite earth stationsand services. For satellite frequency bands that are notshared with other services, streamline satellite earthstation licensing by establishing a mechanism toauthorize large numbers of technically-identical satelliteearth stations in a single license or in “blocks”. Such alicense could be site-specific or non-site-specific (themost efficient approach).
b) Regional or International Hub Requirements: Permit, tothe extent possible, the use of systems whose HUBstations are located anywhere in the region, while
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Bernardo Schneiderman has over 20 years of experience in satellite communications and is thePresident of Telematics Business Consultants based in Irvine, CA. He has been working in BusinessDevelopment, Sales and Marketing for Satellite Carriers, VSAT Equipment Manufacturer and Consulting companies in theUSA, Latin America, Brazil and Africa developing business for the Telecom, Broadcast and the Enterprise Market segment.He was the editor of Brazil Telematics Newsletter during 1995 – 2003. He has a MBA from Universtiy of San Franciscowith Major in Telecom and International Marketing and BSEE from UFRJ in Brazil. He can be reached at [email protected]
f) Consumer Protection / Public Safety: Promote publicinformation on customer rights, quality of service,authorized operators, public safety and healthprotection.
g) Additional Means of Promoting Satellite BroadbandDeployment: Develop programs to foster thedeployment of satellite services to rural, remote,underserved communities, and for other special socialpurposes. Successful programs have included“capacity credits”, tax incentives, loan programs, etc.
h) Equipment Certification: Increase awareness of andrecognize the work done by PCC.I on the CITEL MutualRecognition Agreement (MRA) which seeks to eliminatethe duplication of the certification processes inMember States.
.
recognizing the needs of some Administrations foruser control and security.
c) Availability of Procedures, Regulations, andApplications On-Line: In conformance with thelegislative and regulatory framework in each nation,make current regulations and regulatory requirementspublicly available online, and establish mechanismsthat permit the electronic application and licensing forsatellite earth stations. Such licensing canaccommodate site-specific and non-site-specific Blockor Generic Earth Station Licensing.
d) Landing Rights: Minimize regulatory requirements forlanding rights, taking into account the technicalinformation that is already publicly available from theITU for satellite network coordination, and the spacestation licensing process undertaken by the notifyingAdministration.
e) Local Presence Requirements: To the extent allowedby national laws, minimize the local presencerequirements in-country.
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REGIONAL UPDATE
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Vol.2 No. 4 July-August 2004
MARKET INTELLIGENCE
Driving the Middle East’s and NorthAfrica’s Broadband Growth
BY Martin JarroldDirector, International Programs, GVF
Right now an increasingly rich supply of satellite capacity isparked above the Middle East and North Africa, and
broadband satellite is high on the communications agenda of anumber of countries across the region. But, this is a region thatencompasses much diversity in terms of the size and structure ofthe various national economies, of levels of socio-economicdevelopment, and of geography, all of which are importantfactors affecting demand for and deployment of the means oftelecommunications – wired or wireless, terrestrial or satellite.
Generally, in the world of government policy and regulation, newand increasingly progressive national strategies that recognisethe economic and social significance of satellite-based serviceprovision have fostered a more favourable climate within which,often local, companies have come to market with cost-effective,fixed and mobile, communications solutions. Though by nomeans a universal regional trend – ambiguous regulatoryframeworks exist in the Middle East as elsewhere in the world – itis one that contributes to the strengthening of trade, attractsforeign inward investment, creates new jobs, and challenges thedigital divide.
There is, and there will continue to be, more than just one mid-Eastern path to satellite broadband. Indeed, important as thegeneral trends are, we cannot ignore the realities of oneparticular corner of the region, Iraq. There the combined legacyof military conflict together with the practicalities of what hasbeen termed “national reconstruction” is a significant lead-driverin the application of satellite solutions to connectivity demand.
In a different national context, detailed research of the SaudiArabian satellite market conducted in 2003 and published earlierthis year [1] revealed a variety of hybrid service providers,though it was clearly indicated that the ability of two-waysatellite-based Internet access to bypass official Internet filteringmechanisms is likely to severely limit market uptake in thecybercafé environment, though not in the oil sector and in thetrading houses which “are relatively free to use bothconventional corporate VSAT networks and two-way satellite-based Internet access because they pose no significant threat toreligious and political sensibilities.” [2] A tally of the satellite
broadband installed base in the Kingdom at that time put thenumber at around 1000 sites.
Back in Iraq, the “national reconstruction” vertical market,which encompasses such convergent applications as satellite-based WiFi and satellite-based GSM (amongst others) andincludes the development of e-government, e-education and e-health networks as well as essential industrial – e.g. oil & gas –communications infrastructure, illustrates how some veryspecific geo-political circumstances can both accelerate andfocus demand for satellite provision. Analysis of Iraq’s installedbase of satellite broadband terminals at the end of 2003 indicatedsome 1,900 terminals in service with a significant proportion ofthis figure installed in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq. [3]
“Fixed line telephony in Baghdad and GSM telephonythroughout non-Kurdish Iraq were way short of meeting demandin 2003” [4] according to the DTT Consulting report, and inconsequence a major driver behind the cybercafé phenomenon inthe capital and elsewhere is voice over IP (VoIP) rather thandemand for email and web access alone. Given the continuingpaucity of investment in Iraq’s fixed line infrastructure – likely tocontinue until the security situation improves – the nascentdomestic Internet sector is attempting to respond to growingdemand for services and is looking to alternative local loopinfrastructure to reach the end user community, employingsatellite to connect to the international backbone. The precisemagnitude and structure of this demand is difficult to determine,but originates from a variety of end-user types: not only Internetcafés, but also mini-ISPs, government ministries and NGOs,colleges and universities (the CPA is reported to have fundedsatellite-based Internet access on a number of Iraq’s universitycampuses), (re-) construction contractors, the oil and gas sector,and the military. The latter typically uses satellite broadbandterminals for Internet access, VoIP and videoconferencing formorale, welfare and recreational purposes rather than coremilitary communications.
Footnotes[1] Broadband via Satellite 2004 / © DTT Consulting 2004 /www.spotbeam.com[2] Quoted ibid.[3] ibid.[4] Quoted ibid.
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MARKET INTELLIGENCE
The Global VSAT Forum is an association of key companiesinvolved in the business of delivering advanced digital fixedsatellite systems and services to consumers, and commercialand government enterprises worldwide. The Forum isindependent and non-profit and has a global remit. It is also non-partisan - any companies or organisations with an interest inthe VSAT industry are encouraged to join. For moreinformation go to www.gvf.org or e-mail:[email protected]
Editorial NoteThe author’s use of data from Broadband via Satellite 2004 iswith the permission of DTT Consulting. The opinionsexpressed in this article are those of the author and notnecessarily those of DTT Consulting.
MENASAT – the Middle East & North Africa Satellite Summit –is a joint initiative of the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) and CWCAssociates Limited. This intensive two-day Summit will takeplace alongside the largest annual IT event in the Middle East –GITEX – and will address issues surrounding the major satellitebusiness opportunities across the region: from governmentnetworks to financial services, from oil & gas to thereconstruction of Iraq.
Over 5-6 October 2004 the programme will include such featuresas:
• A Telecom Sector Report: The Rise of Arabian SatelliteBroadband Services
• A Market Access Roundtable: National Links,International Connectivity
• An End-User Profile: Health, Education & Everything inBetween
• A Country Roundtable: The Suitability of SatelliteSolutions to Iran
• Rebuilding a Nation… Via Satellite• A Satellite Operators Roundtable: Delivering the
Promise of Regional Connectivity• Applications Focus: Government Networks• Satellite-based WiFi & Satellite-based GSM• Case Study: Banking on Satellite Networks• The PTT Perspective: The Shape of Satellite Services to
Come
Who Should Attend?
Government Regulators – Satellite Operators – System Integrators– VSAT Management Operations – Security/Military Services –Transponder Brokers/Resellers – Installation/MaintenanceServices – Corporate Users – Distributors – Transmission Services– Technical & Consulting Services – Uplink Facilities – FinancialInstitutions – Ground Equipment Manufacturers – InsuranceServices
Contact Us
Visit the MENASAT web site at www.thecwcgroup.com or contactCWC via email at [email protected] and telephone + 4420 7089 4154. Contact the GVF at [email protected] andtelephone + 44 1727 884739, [email protected] and telephone+ 44 1727 884513 or [email protected] and telephone + 441727 884627.
SM
New Satellite Summit Initiative Comes to Dubai… this October
SATMAGAZINE.COM
28Back to Contents
Vol.2 No. 4 July-August 2004
STOCK MONITOR
APT SATELLITE HOLDINGS ATS 1.95 1.59-4.60ANDREW CORP. ANDW 19.8 8.80 - 21.67ASIASAT SAT 16.85 14.31 - 22.80BALL AEROSPACE BLL 70.95 42.30 - 72.46BOEING BA 49.69 31.00 - 51.49BRITISH SKY BROADCASTING BSY 45.40 40.07 - 59.24CALIFORNIA AMPLIFIER, INC. CAMP 7.36 3.19 - 17.20COM DEV INTL CDV.TO 3.64 1.23 - 3.80COMTECH TELECOMMUNICATIONS. CMTL 21.73 13.62- 39.52DIRECTV GROUP DTV 17.26 14.70 - 18.81ECHOSTAR DISH 30.60 29.27 - 41.00FREQUENCY ELECTRONICS INC. FEI 14.00 8.96-17.13GILAT SATELLITE NETWORKS GILTF 5.50 4.50 - 9.86GLOBECOMM SYSTEMS INC GCOM 5.03 2.99 - 7.29HARRIS CORPORATION HRS 50.26 28.70 - 51.19HONEYWELL SPACE SYSTEMS HON 36.14 25.94 - 37.65INTEGRAL SYSTEMS INC ISYS 16.03 15.29 - 22.12KVH INDUSTRIES INC KVHI 12.69 12.36 - 34.729L3 COMMUNICATIONS LLL 65.43 41.63 - 64.32LOCKHEED MARTIN LMT 51.67 43.10 - 55.00NEW SKIES SATELLITES NSK 7.71 4.49 - 8.16NEWS CORP NWS 35.33 29.80 - 39.74NORSAT INTERNATIONAL INC. NSATF.OB 0.58 0.38 - 1.03NTL NTLI 57.08 3.76 - 20.15ORBITAL SCIENCES CORPORATION ORB 13.60 7.11-14.19PANAMSAT SPOT 23.15 13.80 - 26.01PASIFIK SATELIT NUSANTARA PSNRY.PK 0.15 N/APEGASUS COMMUNICATIONS PGTV 23.04 11.70 - 51.00QUALCOMM, INC. QCOM 72.11 34.33- 73.33RADYNE COMSTREAM RADN 8.01 2.02 - 13.426SCIENTIFIC-ATLANTA SFA 33.15 19.46 - 38.59SIRIUS SATELLITE RADIO INC. SIRI 3.022 1.40 - 4.20SES GLOBAL SDSFa.F 6.75 5.17 - 8.85TRIMBLE NAVIGATION TRMB 27.20 13.48- 28.78VIASAT VSAT 23.99 12.20 - 28.91XM SATELLITE RADIO XMSR 27.21 10.02 - 30.96
Company Symbol Price 52-week Range(July 1)
ADVERTISER’S INDEX
(Click on the page no. to go directly to
the ad; click on the url address to go to
website)
COMTECH EF DATA 12www.comtechefdata.com
GLOBAL LINK 10www.satnews.com/globallink
ND SATCOM 9www.ndsatcom.com
PANAMSAT 7www.panamsat.com
PROMAX 24www.promax.es
PTC 6www.my2004.org
SES GLOBAL 5www.ses-global.com
For real-time, up-to-the minute stock quotes of satellite companies go to:www.satnews.com/free/finance.html
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