[12-20-07 – Satellite Today] About 90 percent of the 1,700 transponders targeting Europe, the Middle East and North Africa (EMEA) were fully or partially used during the first official measurement campaign conducted in the region, Euroconsult announced Dec. 20.
    Euroconsult and the London Stock Exchange (LSE) measured and analyzed Ku-band loading and found actual usage was around 27,500 megahertz, according to Ku-band Loading Report for Europe, Middle East & North Africa.
    Based on this average market assessment, there is a risk of a capacity shortage for certain orbital positions and applications, Euroconsult said. In a regional market where more than 70 percent of capacity is leased for broadcast applications, strong market disparities exist between leading orbital positions providing video distribution services and less developed positions primarily serving the voice and data markets.
     The study, which looked at Ku-band satellites and their transponders providing service over the region, including Arabsat, Eutelsat, Intelsat, Hellas Sat, Hispasat, Nilesat, RSCC, SES, Telesat, and Turksat, also found that regional market players have an average loading factor rate that is 20 percent higher than non-EMEA based competitors.