Hispasat President Buoyed By Strong Amazonas Performance

Spanish satellite operator Hispasat is targeting a strong performance in Latin America throughout the coming years, encouraged by the strong early performance of its Amazonas satellite. The spacecraft, the cornerstone of Hispasat’s geographic expansion into Latin America, has a capacity equivalent to 63, 36 megahertz transponders operating in the Ku- band and C-band frequencies has seen a strong take-up of its capacity, said Petra Mateos, president of Hispasat.

The Amazonas project was organized through Hispamar Sat�lites, a company owned by Hispasat and Brazilian telco, Telemar, the largest telephony company in Latin America. Telemar uses satellite to offer communications services, making Amazonas key to the company’s strategic and corporate development, Mateos said.

"The new satellite’s commercial use has enabled the Hispasat group to position itself as the leading provider of all types of high quality telecoms services in America," Mateos said. "The high quality standards offered by Amazonas, together with its beam power over North America, allowed its use to establish emergency communications in New Orleans after the catastrophe caused by Hurricane Katrina via small portable stations. … Likewise, commercial agreements have been finalized with several transponders of Amazonas for strategic-type services. These agreements entail the consolidation of our commercial relations with providers of this type of service, who know that the Amazonas satellite is a trustworthy platform to accommodate services requiring special quality and security conditions."

In an exclusive interview to Satellite News, Mateos tells International Editor Mark Holmes about the strong performance of Amazonas and the major challenges facing the satellite operator throughout the coming months.

Satellite News: Are you on track in terms of meeting your targets in terms of selling the capacity aboard the Amazonas satellite?

Mateos: The performance of Amazonas throughout its first year has been clearly satisfactory. The targets concerning occupation and sales capacity are being met and we ended the year with an occupation level of around 70 percent. … Commercial operations are developing quickly, and several important telecoms networks have already migrated to the new satellite.

For example, you have the Telemar Network. The migration of this communications network, completed in April 2005, was a very complex migration due both to the technical studies required and the extension of the territory where the carriers that had to be aligned with the satellite were installed. The network reaches over 700 towns in a region 1.7 times the size of the European Union. The migration required the use of 12 transponders on the Amazonas satellite and meant the activation of over 1,100 antennas in four months. Over 200 professionals from the different companies concerned were involved in the project.

Satellite News: In what other areas is Amazonas having an impact?

Mateos: We have also played role in the development of DTH (direct-to-home) services in the region. After the agreement with Zap, the Amazonas satellite began to offer its first DTH service and is now broadcasting the signal for the 52 television channels that make up this project in Chile. This is the first DTH project contract involving Amazonas. Migration required aligning almost 30,000 antennas to the Amazonas satellite.

The Hispasat group is also working on important network deployment projects, among which we can mention the Vivo project in Brazil. Hispamar is in charge of deploying one of the largest satellite-based mobile telephony networks, using Ku-bands, by establishing point-to-point links and providing all associated services. This network’s quality records show that the levels of quality and availability in some cases surpassed expected values, thereby confirming the viability of the use of the Ku band in regions with a severe rainfall pattern in the Amazonas basin.

Satellite News: How has Amazonas boosted your competitive position?

Mateos: We are the satellite operator with the greatest number of television and radio channels in Spanish and Portuguese, 404 channels at the moment of the almost 450 that are currently transmitted through our satellites. We provide America with highly popular television channels and we distribute a wide range of open channels. Our satellites also cater to large digital platforms offering direct-to-home television, not only for Spain and Portugal but also for Latin America. We have a high rate of penetration and our satellites provide content to the most important cable networks. Currently, Hispasat reaches over 20 million homes in Spain, Portugal and Latin America.

Satellite News: How have the satellite broadband markets developed in Latin America?

Mateos: The situation in Latin America shows a strong trend variation as far as economic growth is concerned, with the consequent appearance of new opportunities and that fact clearly reflects upon the wideband satellite market. Hispasat is committed to providing these kinds of services as a vehicle for growth and now provides wideband Internet in America with important ongoing projects focused on Internet access in schools and rural environments.

Satellite News: How is the economic situation in Latin America region affecting Hispasat’s operations?

Mateos: The economic situation in Latin America has changed significantly over the last year, presenting a tendency for economic growth, a recovery of investments and markets, with the resulting appearance of new opportunities. Hispasat is ready to cater to the growing demands of corporate markets and governments that are triggering new service requirements, not only concerning audiovisual services but also broadband Internet access. Hispasat provides broadband Internet services in 10 Latin American countries and has been awarded a number of important projects to connect schools and rural areas, which can only be provided with communications via satellite services. Satellites have proven to be a highly appropriate means of providing global access to information technologies and reducing the current digital gap. Hispasat is deeply committed to this role for satellites, not only in Europe but also, and especially, in America, where land communication infrastructures are difficult to establish in many countries due to geographical conditions.

Satellite News: Is there still pricing pressure in terms of capacity in Latin America?

Mateos: Competition in Latin America is strong and open. However, large capacity users value quality, service, solutions, customer service and even the operator’s guarantee of continuity. Hispasat satellites offer communications services with high quality and power standards, both on C-band and on Ku-band, offering specific coverage for Brazil, North America, South America, Europe and transatlantic telecoms capabilities. Apart from these advantages, Hispasat also offers its customers assurance concerning the quality of the service, redundancy and security systems and reliability.

Satellite News: What impact will a combination of Intelsat and PanAmSat have in the region?

Mateos: The merger of two large companies such as Panamsat and Intelsat may be positive for the market. Our company is committed to its growth in America and we believe that our commitment with customers and efficiency are important points in our favour.

Satellite News: When do you expect to order your next major satellite?

Mateos: Presently, Hispasat is analysing strategic growth possibilities that include the construction of new satellites and the establishment of alliances or other growth mechanisms as the renting of capacity. The Amazonas satellite is one of our natural channels for growth.

Contact, Marta Navarro Naredo, Hispasat, e-mail, [email protected]