Satellite Industry Forum 2007

Over 180 decision-making executives from the satellite industry drawn from around the world participated on the June 18th CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2007, exchanging compelling industry insights and addressing issues facing the vibrant Asia Pacific market.

Delegates and government officials attending the event were warned that the unconsidered deployment of planned wireless broadband technologies are a critical threat to the operations of the Asia Pacific satellite industry's C-band (3.4 GHz - 3.7 GHz range) services and the industry's entire livelihood.

According to CASBAA, if regional administrations allocate C-band spectrum to much-hyped WiMAX services, the impact of a "spectrum grab" from Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) technologies could be disastrous.

"Unlike BWA, which can be located in other spectrum bands, satellite providers do not have the option of changing frequencies. We cannot go anywhere. We cannot change frequencies for satellite services tomorrow," said Peter Jackson, CEO of blue chip satellite operator AsiaSat.

That's why Asia Pacific satellite industry leaders have been calling on governments to take a considered approach in the allocation of existing satellite services. Processes to consider such allocations are under way in Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, India, Australia, Taiwan and the Philippines, among others.

The provision of "open skies" with unrestricted access for satellite services to domestic markets was also discussed at the Forum. Once again, CASBAA delegates were united in a call for governments to allow the industry to realize the full opportunity of such policies.

The delegates in Singapore also heard that the demand of mobile TV, Direct to Home (DTH) and HDTV services will be key drivers for massive future growth. Asia is set to be the single most important DTH market in the world.

Presentations

Who's stealing my C-band? (PDF, 5.8MB)
Barry Turner, GM Engineering, AsiaSat

Open Skies - Where in Asia (PDF, 600KB)
Nripendra Misra, Chairman, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

An Index for Regulation (PDF, 165KB)
Andrew Jordan, MD, Loft Communications

Demand Driver 2: DTH (PDF, 790KB)
Vikram Kaushik, CEO, Tata Sky

Lunch (PDF, 687KB)
Paul Heinerscheid, President & CEO, SAT-GE

Photograhps
Manufacture Breakfast Briefing Melissa Farrell, Stellar Aerospace	Manufacture Breakfast Briefing David Mitlyng, Orbital Communications International
Keynote Address Robert Bednarek, SES New Skies	Panel 2: Open Skies - Where in Asia Nripendra Misra, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India
Lunch Paul Heinerscheid, SAT-GE	Keynote Address Young-Kil Suh, TU Media
Panel 3: Demand Driver 1: Mobile TV	Panel 4: Demand Driver 2: DTH Vikram Kaushik, Tata Sky
Tom Lattie, Harmonic	Panel 5: Demand Driver 3: HDTV

Media Partners