The International Play
When one takes a step back from the regionals, the full richness of the Middle East for satellite broadcasting and broadband applications surfaces. In fact, this is the reason some of the major global satellite providers have not only maintained their presence in the region, but are looking to expand their offerings in the near future.
Take Eutelsat for example. Eighteen of the Paris-based satellite operator's spacecraft offer service in the Middle East. In addition to addressing regional needs, Eutelsat offers requirements for interconnectivity with Europe, Asia and the Americas.
On the broadcasting side, Eutelsat carries 51 Arabic channels from the Middle East. The biggest contributor to Eutelsat's broadcasting portfolio comes from the United Arab Emirates with 17 channels transmitting programming through the Eutelsat network.
"We also see strong channel growth opportunities from Saudi Arabia and Qatar," says Olivier Millies-Lacroix, director of sales and product coordination for Eutelsat. "We are also already seeing enhanced offerings with MPEG-4 broadcasting of university courses to Arab universities in such countries as Jordan and Lebanon."
In reference to the broadband side of the equation, Eutelsat is also making some headway. Because of the inherent limited terrestrial infrastructure, large rural populations and presence of multinationals in enterprise markets, broadband demand will remain high.
"We are seeing strong growth opportunities for Internet access from the European backbone to the Middle East," adds Lacroix. "In addition, there will be a substantial need for satellite broadband applications in the reconstruction of parts of Iraq, as well as neighboring countries since the wars."
In fact, companies like New Skies Satellite NV are aggressively seeking to expand their broadband portfolio in the Middle East. "Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Lebanon are the countries most in demand for enhanced broadband services," says Hussein Oteifa, director of sales in the Middle East for New Skies. "Voice over IP (VoIP), Internet backbone connectivity and two-way share service are the most in-demand applications."
But New Skies is not out of the broadcasting marketplace--quite the contrary. When Arabsat 3 experienced its anomaly, many customers migrated onto New Skies' fleet. "More pay- TV services are needed in the region," Oteifa adds. "Even though competition remains tough within the region, we continue to see significant broadcasting business growth from the Middle Eastern countries."
SES Global is also witnessing an increased need for broadcast satellite services in the Middle East. "There is a growing need for more satellite capacity within the region," says Robert Bednarek, executive vice president for corporate development with SES Global. "This region has very strong national broadcasting systems, and barriers are being broken to further allow international players such as SES to provide services to the region." Most notably, the need for more programming distribution is increasing and that delivery cannot be met well by terrestrial services, he adds.
In the broadband arena, SES Global's reach into the Internet and VoIP sectors is also gaining headway in many countries in the Middle East, and Bednarek sees strong business opportunities for broadband traffic to increase within the leading countries in the region.
Like its European counterparts, North American-based Intelsat Ltd. is not only serving the broadcasting and broadband needs of the Middle East. The company is incorporating hybrid solutions that are yielding more than 10 percent revenue growth for Intelsat, coming specifically from the Middle East region. Samir Dajani, Intelsat regional vice president, Middle East sales, says some of the major clients for Intelsat come from Saudi Arabia and Iran.
"There is major deregulation happening, specifically in Saudi Arabia, that will further open up broadband possibilities for Intelsat," Dajani says. "VSAT applications in the Gulf region will increase in the near term and Internet trunking for enterprise will also grow in demand."
On the broadcasting side of the business, Intelsat offers Middle Eastern countries an opportunity for return-channel connectivity. "There is still strong competition from the cable distributors, but international programming going into the region and local programming being distributed out of the region are strong businesses and ones that we see increasing in demand," Dajani adds.
One of the surprise successes in the Middle East market has been Panamsat. Throughout the past two years, this satellite operator has gained a market share of nearly 15 percent. For years, the PTT monopolies tended to use space segment of satellite operators in which they had a shareholding, most notably Intelsat and Arabsat. Times, though, are changing and broadcast opportunities are opening up to companies such as Panamsat.
The Pas 10 satellite, located at 68.5 degreesE, has 24 C-band and 24 Ku-band transponders that offer strong service within this region. The satellite's footprint covers Europe, Africa, the Middle East, the Indian region and Asia. Pas 10's C-band customers include the BBC, CNN, CCTV, Discovery, Doordarshan, ESPN, MTV, NHK, Nickelodeon and Sony. Its Ku-band payload contains multiple high-powered beams focused on Africa, Europe, India, the Middle East, Central and Western Asia as well as Northeast Asia. Many of the beams can be switched between the various regions, offering flexibility in the creation of new platforms for the delivery of video, data and IP-based services.
Everyone Stays
Regardless of application growth for the Middle East, one thing remains certain: those players offering space segment will continue to service this region. While economic and political unrest continues to plague the Middle East, all the major players are maintaining a presence and, with no doubt, expanding their offerings to meet the growing demands within the broadcasting and broadband arenas.
Nick Mitsis is the editor of Via Satellite magazine.
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