Commercial Satellite Industry Set to Grow Even in Troubled Economic Times
New NSR Report Projects More Than 1,500 New Transponder Leases in Next Ten Years, and Revenues to Hit US$12.9 Billion
| Source: NSR
CAMBRIDGE, MA--(Marketwire - December 3, 2008) - With many industries around the world in the
doldrums due to the current economic crisis, NSR's latest multi-client
market research report, the "Global Assessment of Satellite Demand, 5th
Edition," projects that the commercial satellite transponder leasing market
should emerge relatively unscathed. This new NSR report provides the
industry's most complete examination of commercial satellite supply and
demand in all regions and for each application over the next ten years.
"It is likely that commercial satellite operators will feel some discomfort
over the next 12 to 18 months," according to Patrick French, NSR Senior
Analyst and the report's author, "but it will be more on the order of a few
quarters of somewhat slower demand growth compared to the last few years,
rather than outright transponder demand contraction. More importantly, the
launch of numerous new satellites in the 2009-2010 time period, both
strengthening existing orbital locations and opening new slots, should come
just in time to address reemerging demand in many sectors as economic
conditions improve. This could well lead to a sharp boost in demand in the
2010 to 2011 period."
Between 2007 and 2017, NSR forecasts that global demand for commercial C-
and Ku-band transponders will increase by more than 1,500 36 MHz
transponder equivalents, and revenues will grow at the average annual rate
of 4.5%. Unsurprisingly, NSR anticipates that the majority of transponder
demand growth in the coming ten years will be generated by various video
services. In fact, 83% of the newly leased transponders will be for video
distribution, direct-to-home (DTH) and video contribution & occasional use
television services.
Direct-to-home is by far the single most important market for the satellite
industry, not only because of transponder demand for new DTH platforms, but
because DTH drives competition with cable and IPTV services and leads them
to require new transponder capacity for HD channels, HITS
(headend-in-the-sky) and other SD channel bouquets, as well as news and
sports programming in the eternal battle to have the best content to
attract and keep subscribers. NSR's only concern in this area is the extent
to which the current economic crisis may lead to DTH platform
consolidation. "Some countries have two, three and even five DTH platforms,
not even counting cable or IPTV pay-TV services," stated French. "The
failure of a few of these DTH services might hurt in the short-term but
probably is a very healthy process that will lead to a smaller, stronger
set of players in the long-term that are better able to honor existing
transponder contract obligations and, better yet, to expand their service
offerings."
On the revenues side of the picture, NSR estimated that the industry
generated US$8.33 billion in 2007 from commercial C- and Ku-band capacity
leasing, and this should grow to US$12.90 billion in 2017. While NSR does
not expect all aggressive pricing tactics to disappear, it does appear as
general rule the industry has learned that below cost pricing hurts
everyone, and there will be a gradual but definite increase in average
capacity pricing for the next several years in most markets around the
world.
About the Report
In its 5th Edition, the "Global Assessment of Satellite Demand (GASD)"
study is a multi-client report now available from NSR. The GASD 5th Edition
study has become an industry standard for the independent analysis of
drivers and restraints on the commercial satellite capacity leasing market.
NSR maintains its rigorous methodology of rebuilding its entire transponder
supply and demand forecast for the commercial satellite market from the
ground-up each year to ensure that its forecast projections capture the
latest trends in the market. More than 200 separate supply and demand
forecasts have been performed in order to provide one of the most granular
and detailed evaluations of demand for commercial C-, Ku- and Ka-band
satellite transponder capacity for seven specific satellite applications in
twelve distinct regional markets. For additional information on this
report, including a full table of contents, list of exhibits and executive
summary, please visit www.nsr.com or call NSR at 617-576-5771.
About NSR
NSR is an international market research and consulting firm specializing in
telecommunications technology, with a particular focus on satellite and
wireless networks, emerging technology and media applications. With
expertise across all unwired technologies and presence in all geographic
regions, NSR is a leading provider of in-depth market insight and analyses.