By Mark Holmes

CASBAA (the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia) is a highly influential organization on the Asia-Pacific broadcast landscape and is active in trying to bring about more opportunities for satellite players in the region. Whether it is the fight against piracy or bringing about fairer and more open regulation in certain markets, CASBAA is at the frontline for change.
    CASBAA CEO Simon Twiston Davies discusses the impact of the global economic situation on  the broadcast arena in the region and what he sees as the opportunities and threats for satellite players.

CommunicAsia E-Daily: Do you think Asian satellite players have been less affected by the crisis than in other regions of the world?

Twiston Davies: I think certainly we are in tough economic times globally, however, the full impact of the global recession has been less direct in Asia than other parts of the world so far. As we speak, the satellite sector may be a year behind some of the more direct hits there have been from the economic crisis. It depends on the speed of recovery in the rest of the world. At the moment, broadcasters are still engaging in their planned launches. Satellite operators are maybe not seeing the growth they would have expected to see when they were doing their planning 12 months ago, but at the same time, the economies and media economies in Asia have not ground to a halt. Television and subscription television is continuing on a growth path. In this part of the world, we are early in the piece in terms of digital deployments. That is helping the satellite sector. We are still seeing an increase in Internet traffic and backhaul related to that Internet traffic. We are seeing more demand for capacity coming from that particular sector.

CommunicAsia E-Daily: What do you think will be the talking points and trends at CommunicAsia?

Twiston Davies: I think the impact of the global economic recession will be one of the key talking points at the show. That is bound to be an issue. You also have the continued rollout of IPTV services. Mobile TV services and enhanced mobile services will also be a talking point at the show. Mobile as a sector, while it maybe slowing in the next 12 months, will continue to grow. There are markets such as India which saw an increase of 10 million subscribers earlier this year in one month. We will see that might slow, but you might still see an impressive growth rate. That in itself will continue to drive satellite deployment and satellite services growth. Other sectors in the market will grow also. Things will slow a little bit in Japan and Korea, but not to a point of a grinding halt. You must remember that we do have some pretty good businesses in Asia. The latest estimate from CASBAA is that there are 315 million connections to multi-channel television in Asia, which is a continued growth. That is not going to go away. I think that level of market assurance is something which will be a continued theme at the CommunicAsia show.

CommunicAsia E-Daily: Asia is home to some of the biggest markets for satellite communications. How do you view the potential for satellite players in these markets?

Twiston Davies: Both India and China in particular have regulatory hurdles that need to be crossed before we will see the full satisfaction of demand within those demands in those markets. That is actually holding back full development. We have seen some slight loosening within the Indian market, in the sense the regulator and ISRO, has taken a more pro-market approach by enabling some more capacity to come into the market. In China, it is a controlled market. Indonesia is very interesting. It has an economy which continues to grow at around 6 percent to 7 percent. That might fall back to 4 percent growth. In the pay-TV market, there are less than a million subscribers. I think we will see a significant increase in that subscriber base, and that will drive satellite services forward. The economic situation in Indonesia and the demand curve based on the demographic within Indonesia are within our favor. Each of those markets has slightly different dynamics. India will continue to grow. It, too, has an economy that is going to grow. China will also, but India and China have regulatory barriers. Indonesia will have more immediate growth prospects than in India and China. 

CommunicAsia E-Daily: Is this situation holding satellite players back in any way?

Twiston Davies: Regulatory issues and things such as landing rights are holding satellite players back. There are always an issue. Opening up landing rights is a way to generate new economic activity and the regulatory constraints we see in India and China as well as places like Japan and Korea. It is very important these issues are resolved if we are to get the full benefit of satellite services.

CommunicAsia E-Daily: What impact have telcos had in broadcast markets across Asia? Is this an opportunity or threat to satellite players?

Twiston Davies: It is certainly not a threat. It is more of a huge opportunity. IPTV is a more sophisticated way to deliver content to the consumers in many ways when compared to traditional cable. The cable operators are rapidly becoming providers of IPTV services. The telcos have only just scratched the service of consumer demand for video. The IPTV subscription numbers for the APAC region is less than 10 millions. We are so early in the piece. While the infrastructure is going into the ground, we have yet to see the full deployment of services.

CommunicAsia E-Daily: Do you see any significant changes happening on the Asia communications landscape over the next year?

Twiston Davies: It is very difficult to forecast what might happen, but we are pretty optimistic that Asia will weather the economic storms that are out there and that the demographics and economics are all in our favor. I don’t think that is going to change. I think digital deployments are inexorable and they are going to roll forward, and that will help the satellite market in Asia.