Five Satellite Operators Dominate

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- In its recently released study, "Global Assessment of Satellite Demand, 2nd Edition", Northern Sky Research (NSR) offers a completely updated, in-depth and unbiased analysis of the global, commercial satellite market. This study segments the market into seven distinct applications and assesses trends in market demand for C-, Ku- and Ka-band satellite transponder capacity for each of these applications in twelve regional markets. Further, the study assigns market share to the leading satellite operators in each region based on total leased C- and Ku-band capacity.

“There are many ways to determine market share in this industry”, said Patrick French, Senior Analyst for NSR and author of the report. “Total revenue is the most common, though NSR offers an analysis of market share based on actual leased capacity in order to provide insight into this particular dynamic of the market. This approach places Intelsat as the largest operator in terms of leased capacity as of the end of 2004, followed by PanAmSat, SES Global, Eutelsat and New Skies Satellites. SES Global was the largest operator in 2004 based on revenues; however, the company only places third in terms leased capacity, which quickly demonstrates that SES commands much higher average pricing per leased transponder.”

NSR’s analysis of the commercial satellite market is structured such that over 100 individual demand forecasts were performed in order to build up a highly granular evaluation of which demand drivers are creating growth in the industry and illustrating where demand is declining. Separate regional C-, Ku- and Ka-band demand forecasts were generated for each of the major satellite applications investigated in the study. These applications include video distribution, Direct-to-Home, video contribution & OUTV, telephony & carrier, satellite broadband, narrowband VSAT and a group of other niche satellite services. Whenever possible, NSR built its market assessment using a bottom-up approach for each of the following regional markets: North America, Central America & Caribbean, South America, the Atlantic Ocean Region, Western Europe, Central & Eastern Europe, the Middle East & North Africa, Sub-Saharan Africa, East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Pacific Ocean Region.

“A regional and application-based approach to the commercial satellite market is essential”, continues French, “because capacity demand drivers can be complete different as you move from one region or application to the next. Examining the market in this way allows one, for example, to pinpoint where a merged PanAmSat and Intelsat truly are complementary in their businesses and where they overlap.” NSR’s study also assesses the role of the 33 other smaller and regional commercial satellite operators and how they split the remaining 37% of the leased capacity and 35% of the revenues between them.

Northern Sky Research