Asia’s Connectivity Needs to Drive HTS Adoption

Bangkok, Thailand. Photo: Mike Behnken

[Via Satellite 09-24-2015] The demands of a “wired” culture, strategic military pivots toward Asia, and a rise in targeted satellite programs are catalyzing High Throughput Satellite (HTS) demand in Asia, according to a recent Northern Sky Research (NSR) study. The firm’s “Global Satellite Capacity Supply & Demand, 12th Edition” report finds that though O3b Networks Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) constellation and Thaicom’s Ipstar satellites are the only HTS supply alternatives over Asia right now — with both targeting distinctly different markets — the region is poised for many new entrants. Intelsat, SES, Eutelsat, ABS, and Kacific have all announced GEO missions for this decade, all for a region that has been slow to adopt HTS thus far.

“Asia’s need for connectivity will increase exponentially over the next decade, and satellite’s role will be vital to this expansion. Applications like backhaul and enterprise data will propel growth in the future,” said Blaine Curcio, senior analyst at NSR and co-author of the report.

NSR expects enterprise data demand alone to grow to near 50 Gbps of Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) HTS capacity, on top of an additional 375 Transponder Equivalents (TPEs) of Fixed Satellite Service (FSS) capacity demand by 2024.

“In Asia, an enormous demand for connectivity is emerging, with a distinct role for satellite. When all summed up, we will see nearly $900 million in revenues by 2024. That’s nearly 5 percent of all global capacity leasing revenues in 2024 — just for data and just in Asia,” added Curcio.

NSR also believes countries such as China and India will follow in the footsteps of Australia’s NBN Co satellites, making HTS the next “PrideSat,” or patriotically motivated satellite, for Asia.