[Satellite News 12-11-08] With Turksat 3A successfully launched in June 2008, Turksat Director General Őzkan Dalbay is already thinking about the company’s next satellite.
    In an exclusive interview with Satellite News, Dalbay said that since there is a growing market in the regional TV broadcasting sector, the major challenge for the Turkish operator is to develop the 42 degrees East orbital location as a hot TV location for the domestic region.
    "In order to accomplish this challenge, the main aim for Turksat in the following 12 months is to start the procurement process of Turksat 4A. This satellite will meet the capacity demands of our existing customer base, as well as new customers,” said Dalbay.
    The launch of Turksat 3A put the operator in a good position to boost overall revenues. Dalbay said, “With the additional capacity of Turksat 3A, we expect a 30 percent increase in our revenues over the next 12 months. From the satellite services perspective there is certainly a growing market not only from government organizations, but also from non-governmental companies.”
    Dalbay said Turksat can develop its business through the effective use of orbital rights at the 31 and 50 degrees East orbital slots. "It is the major growth opportunity for Turksat," he said. "As our core customers are governments and corporations seeking secure, remote access to data and telephony, satellite services are becoming popular, particularly for VSAT solutions at providing communications between central offices and remote locations in sectors like natural-resource exploration, finance, manufacturing and transportation. We are also planning to enter the mobile TV sector, where we have plans."
    Turkey, with a population of more than 70 million people, is considered one of the most interesting markets for satellite communications in Europe. The company hopes to have a key role in helping the Turkish government reduce the digital divide.
    “Turksat is a publicly owned and privately managed company with a mission to be the leading innovator of satellite based services to reduce the digital divide in Turkey," said Dalbay. "The most valuable and the latest service we offer is Internet access to more than 5200 schools in rural areas via a VSAT solution. An agreement was reached and signed by the Ministry of Education under the ‘Universal Service Fund’ to provide much needed Internet infrastructure, especially for areas falling in the East and Southeast of Turkey. Education is the power and by providing such services to the schools we believe we are on the right track."
    Dalbay said that his company is very hopeful about the future of the broadcast market in Turkey. "Just four years ago, Turksat satellites were being operated with 40-50 percent usage rates. However, now we have much higher demand that we can supply," he said. "According to our surveys about this regional market, we see that this (broadcast) market will be much more bigger than it is now. We believe Turksat will be a key player in this region and this will continue more and more.”
    The operator could also see opportunity as a  potential acquisition target. With most analysts believing the next wave of consolidation will involve smaller regional operators, Eutelsat has reportedly shown an interest in Hellas-SAT, the Greek national satellite operator.
    Giuliano Berretta, CEO of Eutelsat recently told Satellite News, “It is well known that we are open to external growth opportunities that complement our own activity and Hellas-SAT could be a good fit. However, our main focus is on our organic growth driven by our ambitious program of seven launches from now to 2010.”
    Dalbay said it is difficult to talk about future acquisitions. "We believe Turksat is observed by the bigger operators since the importance of the market and Turksat’s position in this important market," he said. "There would be co-operation with main operators rather than acquisition.”