[Satellite News 07-12-10] Eutelsat’s Middle East aspirations were given a shot in the arm thanks to a deal in Qatar. In mid-May, the operator signed a deal with ictQatar (representing the State of Qatar) to invest in and operate a high-capacity satellite that will be launched in 2012 to Eutelsat’s 25.5 degrees East slot.
    The deal is a significant one in terms of the Middle East satellite landscape, according to Jawad Abbassi, CEO of Arab Advisors. “This development underscores the heightened interest amongst Arab governments to launch state-of-the-art satellites to meet future demand and help spur economic growth. Most of the Arab countries are shareholders in Arabsat (with Saudi Arabia being the largest shareholder), Egypt has Nilesat, [the United Arab Emirates] will launch Yahsat, and now Qatar will have its own as well. This is certainly a positive development and good news for consumers, as capacity increases should result in healthy competition.”
    In the following interview with Satellite News Hessa Al Jaber, secretary general of ictQatar, discussed what the landmark deal means for Qatar and the demands for capacity as ictQatar could look to partner with other satellite operators in the future.

Al Jaber: Eutelsat owns the rights to orbital slot 25.5 degrees East, and this is a critical location for MENA (Middle East and North Africa) broadcasting. Since Qatar does not have the necessary orbital assets and the orbital coverage rights associated with Qatar’s own slots are limited to Qatar only, we thought this was great opportunity to gain independence and control of spacecraft. Moreover, Eutelsat is a motivated partner with aligned mutual interests.

Al Jaber: There is not enough capacity from local satellite providers to meet our needs. Global and regional players operate approximately 40 satellites covering the region, with 13 additional planned launches. But it is expected that transponder supply over MENA would not meet demand starting from 2012, and this demand can only be met by launching additional satellites. Demand in the region is fueled by DTH TV success and the presence of strong regional broadcasters. Moreover, HDTV will increase this demand. The supply side of satellites is impacted by long and high capital expenditure investment cycles, and supply tends to be bound geographically. The possibility for redeployment of capacity to other regions is very limited. Also, oversupply in the past has led satellite operators to cut back their investment for covering the region, so from the lack in supply and increasing demand there is likely to be a gap here.

Al Jaber: Eutelsat is providing ictQatar the ability to fulfill a regional gap and addresses the need for secured and guaranteed bandwidth for Qatar enterprises and government and can be a component in Qatar’s international connectivity resilience. The fact we have done this deal with Eutelsat does not mean we are not going to explore relationships with other satellite operators.

 

Al Jaber: I don’t think we have been influenced by other countries in the region. When this project first came to ictQatar I started looking at what else was going on in the region, so we were obviously aware of operators like Yahsat and Noorsat. The way I see it is that we are complementing each other.

Al Jaber: No. The capacity will be mainly used for broadcast and communications.

Al Jaber: On the Qatari broadcast landscape, we are seeing a move from analog to digital, and this will accelerate over the next couple of years. In reference to Ku-band, current demand is 25 standard-definition channels and five high-definition channels, and the estimated demand is 8.6 transponders.