[Satellite News 06-25-10] SES World Skies is in talks with equipment manufacturers Samsung and Panasonic to create a 3-D ecosystem in Asia similar to what the operator has done in the United States, Scott Sprague, senior vice president of global sales for SES World Skies told Satellite News.
    “We will be making an announcement in the next six months. We’ve been talking to Samsung and Panasonic more now than ever,” he said.
    SES World Skies’ ambitions in Asia were given a shot in the arm with the acquisition of the ProtoStar 2 satellite late last year. Sprague said SES now is seeing a fundamental shift in its business in Asia which in the space of six years will see DTH provide the lion share of its revenues in the region. “If you look at our business in Asia, three years ago, 70 percent of our revenues were being generated from data services and 30 percent from DTH. Now, the split is around 50 percent from data services and 50 percent from DTH. I expect in three years time, 70 percent will be derived from DTH and only 30 percent from data services. That is not necessarily because the data market is slowing down, but more the fact, the opportunities from DTH are much more on the increase.”
    New markets for DTH are opening up in the region, driven by increasing demand in countries like the Philippines and Thailand, where there are now as many as three DTH players. For Sprague and SES, India is a key target, as one of SES’ biggest customers is DishTV. “We have plenty of capacity to serve the market, but with the way operators like DishTV are growing, we will need more capacity in this market, and quickly.”
    Rajiv Khattar, president of projects at DishTV, said the operator will need more capacity sooner rather than later, either from SES World Skies or from someone else. “SES World Skies is going to build another satellite at the same location, which may take some time they are already on the drawing board for the same. We might need some capacity before that, so we might look at other options. The SES World Skies satellite is likely to launch in two years. I think if it goes in 2011 without signing a new deal for capacity, I think we can survive without the new capacity. The additional capacity will help us improve our leadership position further.”
    To tackle the capacity shortage, Sprague said SES plans to announce new satellites for Asia sooner rather than later. “We have satellites like NSS-6, NSS-11, NSS-12 and SES-7 all serving the Asia market, but we will need more capacity. We are likely to continue to expand capacity in the region … Southeast Asia is a very strong market for us, and we need more capacity here.”
    SES also is keeping its eye on collaborations with wireless operators, which are looking to launch DTH services in Africa, South America and Asia, all of which SES considers as growth markets. “Wireless operators are testing the market for DTH services. They don’t just want to provide mobile services. They are looking for ways to gain extra subscription revenues. We are in discussions with them about what they might do here,” said Sprague.