HONOLULU–Commercial satellite companies that do business in the Asia-Pacific must continue to focus on applications that highlight the core strengths of satellite-based communications as the industry faces stiff competition from terrestrial landline and wireless communications companies.

“We will never beat fiber optics point-to-point,” said David Ball, vice president Asia-Pacific, Panamsat Australia. “We need to focus on rural connectivity and point-to- multipoint applications” in order to remain competitive throughout the recovering Asia-Pacific region. Ball made his comments this week during the Pacific Telecommunications Council‘s (PTC) 2005 annual conference and exhibition.

For more coverage of the PTC conference, please see the Jan. 24 issue of Satellite News. For more information on subscribing to Access Intelligence’s satellite industry news and information products, visit us at https://www.satellitetoday.com.