[Satellite News 08-19-11] Pakistani national satellite operator Paksat could commission new satellites as early as next year, as capacity sales on its new satellite Paksat-1R, launched last week, were better than expected.

   The Paksat-1R satellite was successfully launched last week from the Xichang satellite launch center in China to its orbital location at 38 degrees East. Paksat-1R has 12 C-band and 18 Ku-band transponders and its pre-launch capacity commitments from Afghanistan, Middle East and Africa have helped book 70 percent of its total capacity.

   Paksat CEO Usman Bajwa said that the potential for DTH to finally become part of the Pakistani pay-TV market could mean that a new satellite would be needed sooner rather than later. “We expect to announce plans for future satellite launches perhaps in the second half of 2012,” Bajwa told Satellite News.

   Pakistan is an attractive market for satellite communications with a population of more than 160 million people, however, DTH service launches in the country have encountered many frustrating delays. While the demand for capacity ranges beyond DTH, Bajwa sees the DTH market opening up to create massive opportunities for Paksat.

   “The interest in DTH services in Pakistan is definitely picking up, and the launch of Paksat-1R has accelerated that,” said Bajwa. “We have had a meeting with one of the potential DTH operators and they are looking at resolving any of the licensing issues by the end of the year. There are some regulatory issues, which need to be resolved. We are still very hopeful that a DTH project will start in Pakistan next year. If regulatory issues in the way of introducing DTH in Pakistan are resolved, it could have a positive impact on our future launch plans and payload configurations. We do see a significant opportunity for DTH services in Pakistan.”

   The potential of launching DTH services is not the only driver that could fuel the market demand for more capacity. According to Bajwa, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that Paksat could look to do some kind of hosted payload deal for a future satellite. “We are looking at several options for future satellite launches, including hosted payloads. We do have interest from few parties in the region on this. But, everything is at an early stage. There is definite interest, but I can’t say we are close to any decision or understanding at the moment,” he said.

The other market that Paksat will look to tap into will be cellular backhaul, where Bajwa admits the operator does not have enough capacity to meet demand. “GSM backhaul is also a very important segment for us. We are already serving a number of GSM operators in Pakistan and the region, and we do see continued growing demand from this segment.”

   To finance its next satellite, Paksat might look beyond the Pakistani government as a source of funds. “The existing satellite was partially funded by the government. We may explore other funding options including gaining commercial financing for a future launch. It is very much a work in progress. We don’t see any issues in terms of availability of commercial financing for satellite projects. We think we have shown a strong business case on our existing satellite. The demand outlook in the region is strong,” Bajwa said.

   There is even a possibility that there could be Ka-band capacity on the next Paksat satellite, although the prospect remains a long shot at this stage. Bajwa said the operator is keeping its eyes on the evolution of Ka-band in its region, especially with new regional satellites being planned for launch in near future. “We have not taken Ka-band off our agenda, but we would like to see the market response first,” Bajwa said.