HONOLULU–The Asian market will be good for up to six new commercial satellite orders over the next 24 months, according to projections from two key executives of Loral Space and Communications [NYSE: LOR] at the Pacific Telecommunications Conference here this week.

Paul Davis, president of Loral Asia-Pacific, and Tony Colucci, Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) vice president for sales and marketing, predicted that two new Asian operators would emerge during the same period, offering enough potential business to “keep us interested.” SS/L plans to deliver between 7 and 10 satellites this year.

The digital audio radio service (DARS) applications now spreading in the United States will power some of the demand in the Asia-Pacific, Davis said. He also said that so- called “condosats,” satellites carrying capacity for a consortium of independent operators, would increasingly become popular, particularly in areas or situations where the capacity of a regular vanilla spacecraft might exceed the requirements of a single participant. Broadband applications, Colucci added, might also be significant in spurring Asian demand.

–Scott Chase