Yong: We think there are a number of strong growth drivers. We see the ST-2 program as a major driver, since our successful launch last August. We have been rapidly migrating our customers from the ST-1 satellite. At the same time, we have been adding new customers. You don’t see us announcing new customers, but we have had many new customers in the Middle East, a defense contractor in the United States, who has been buying on behalf of a new project manager. They are ramping their utilization of capacity on ST-2. We see the growth in the next few months coming from all of these new contracts and using ST-2. We are also working on some new technology on the ground segment level, deploying networks in the region. We see this helping us grow strongly in our revenue line over the next few months.

   This will help us drive a lot of capacity sales in terms of IP-broadband to telcos, ISPs, defense projects. We are also seeing a lot of demand coming for capacity from the maritime sector. We see a strong take-up in the use of broadband in this sector. Despite Inmarsat’s price increase, we are seeing a greater focus on crew welfare, which is driving up the demand for broadband services, as well as operational services for shipping operators. Shipping operators want to improve their efficiency. We are seeing demand for a whole host of new applications.

 

Yong: We expect to have 80 percent of the capacity sold.

 

Yong: When we launched ST-2, we also signed long-term capacity leases of capacity. That actually complemented our inventory of capacity in the last 12 months. The discussion is ongoing right now in terms of added capacity. I think there will be continued investment in space segment over the next 12-18 months. At the same time, we have also invested a fair bit into the ground segment as well. We have launched a new playout facility in the last two years. We have equipped our three teleports with all this new technology. So, we have introduced new bandwidth optimization technologies and new broadcast technologies. We are using our fiber networks to offer customers remote playout capability also.

 

Yong: Rainfade has definitely been a problem in this part of the world. But, I think there is a price/performance where using Ka-band makes sense and it can provide a level of performance in which the customer is willing to pay. There are a lot of POP operations in this part of the world. For example, if companies use WiMAX to extend their POP connectivity, our understanding is that the quality of this connectivity is not strong enough. This is where Ka-band could play a role to provide stronger connectivity, so this POP connectivity can be more efficient. Rainfade could cause a big problem. But, we can always potentially fall back on a secondary platform to support mission critical applications.

 

Yong: The level of interest from end users for this capacity is very high. We have actually been in active discussions with a couple of Ka-band operators who are already have plans to have beams over this part of the world, and how we can actually deploy them. We are also in discussions with government agencies as well to how we can overcome these rainfade issues. But, there are price/performance where it does make sense.

 

Yong: First of all, we have definitely extended our channel customer base. We are also in the land mobile business. So, in the region, we are seeing more channels come into the SingTel family. We are also seeing more integrated land mobile solutions in the region. We are seeing more B2B and more B2C applications. We are also acquiring customers in the mining arena. We have developed a number of new customers here. The mining activities in this part of the world are pretty hot. They definitely appreciate the one-stop shop solution we can offer them. We have been successful from Mongolia down to the Pacific Islands and Australia. We have also been talking to applications service providers serving this part of the segment. We are also having quite good penetrations into Navies in the region for maritime solutions, especially with piracy being a big issue. There are a lot of active discussions in how we can provide maritime broadband and offer better surveillance solutions etc. These are quite interesting for us. The defense part of the market had always been there, but they were doing their own thing. They buy transponders, and then customize their own solutions. Now, they are starting to look for commercial providers to do everything end-to-end. We are able to do everything from the space segment, ship installations etc. That is quite interesting for us.

 

Yong: There is. There are definitely opportunities for us. But, these are all pretty classified for us at time. You can see this trend starting to happen. We are starting to see a lot more operators come into Asia. As that comes along, discussions with hosted payloads are a result.

 

Yong: We will not close our door on this potential. It is definitely an option for us in the future.