And Broadband Too
The television business is not the only market segment interesting satellite operators, as two-way broadband also is proving to be a growing application, especially in a region lagging behind in terrestrial infrastructure. "For us the main driver in the Eastern European market has been DTH, however, we are also doing business in other areas. In fixed satellite services there are other applications, such as VSAT networks, we are marketing," says Gillet. Kubacki confirms that FSS services are meeting the favor of the market. "We are seeing growing interest in our two-way broadband service Astra-to-Connect among our DTH customers. For instance the Czech-Slovak DTH platform SKYlink has just added this offering to their broadcasting service," he says.
Eutelsat, on the other hand, is offering speeds of up to 3.6 megabits per second (Mbps) with its Tooway consumer broadband service at costs reportedly similar to ADSL. The company is preparing for the launch of its KA-Sat satellite in 2010, which will further raise broadband speeds to up to 10Mbps. Tooway is serving customers in more than 20 European countries including the United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and Ireland, with additional countries across Europe rolling-out over the coming months.
Conclusion
Broadband and pay-TV are driving growth in many Eastern European telecoms markets. For example, according to the latest report from Pyramid Research, broadband and pay-TV will become the major source of growth in the Romanian telecom market during the next five years. Satellite likely will benefit from this expected growth, however, pay-TV, HD and bundled services are only some of the key developments facing the satellite industry in coming years. Other innovations at the horizon, such as end-to-end 3D broadcasting, are promising a radically new way of experiencing cinema and television content. In Eastern Europe, like in the rest of the world, satellite will have a key role in the delivery of tomorrow’s television and telecoms services to tomorrow’s audiences.
Digital Future: Serbia’s SwitchoverMoving from analog-to-digital is a challenging undertaking for any country. Recently, the Republic of Serbia announced that it would switch to digital radio and television broadcasting by April 4, 2012. At a projected cost of $50 million and with more than half of the 2.4 million Serbian households that currently have a TV set in need of a set-top converter box, this is a major undertaking for the country’s Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Society (MTIS). Through this ambitious project Serbia is committed to aligning itself with other European Union and neighboring nations. As a matter of fact, the project puts Serbia three years ahead of the 2015 deadline proposed by the International Telecommunication Union and others in the region. The switchover also is seen as an economic opportunity by many in Serbia. As part of the project, the MTIS is pushing for any analog-to-digital set-top converter boxes to be manufactured in Serbia, which will translate into new jobs and foreign investment in the country. This underscores a growing trend in foreign direct investment in Serbia, which has included significant investment from leading U.S. companies such as Microsoft and U.S. Steel, both of which have opened facilities in Serbia. If a major manufacturing deal is secured as planned, Serbia will become a hub of manufacturing for the region, including Russia and other Eastern European countries, which will need similar equipment for the analog-to-digital switchover. The market potential includes nearly 72.4 million Eastern European TV households. |
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