In this issue, we honor Petra Mateos, chairwoman of Spanish satellite operator Hispasat, as the 2010 Satellite Executive of the Year. Mateos earned this honor by guiding the regional FSS operator through a period of growth and expansion that was based, in part, by being in a position to capitalize on the Latin American market.

When Mateos took over leadership of Hispasat, she felt that the key to growing the company was to expand into Latin America – a natural fit for Hispasat’s strength in serving the Spanish- and Portuguese-speaking markets. While Hispasat’s previous leadership already had embarked down that path, Mateos completed the job. At the end of 2010, revenue from the Americas will account for more than 41 percent of Hispasat’s revenue, she says, and the figure is expected to reach about 50 percent by 2015, when the operator will have three satellites serving the region.

It often seems to take longer than expected for new satellite markets to materialize, but Latin America looks to have reached the tipping point, driven by areas such as e-government, long-distance learning, DTH services, video distribution and wireless backhaul. “Revenue has gone up for two reasons,” says analyst Patrick French of NSR. “First, because more capacity has been leased and second, because pricing of the capacity of the tighter supply has pushed up pricing in the last three or four years.”

This tight supply has caught the attention of more than just Hispasat. Intelsat CEO Dave McGlade said in November that he views Latin America as the fastest-growing region for FSS services while also acknowledging that the world’s largest satellite operator might not be able to capitalize on the market in the short-term. “We will have a lack of capacity to meet the region’s demands in the short term and will not realize this growth until Intelsat 27 is launched in late 2012 to replace Intelsat 805. In the meantime, we’re going to continue to groom our network and get the best yield of what’s available.”

Nigel Gibson, vice president of international sales for Telesat, has said that while many of the new satellites planned for Latin America were announced before the recession, new plans continue to emerge. Telesat in July ordered the Telstar 14R satellite to be placed in orbit in mid-2011, and in September, Astrium announced that it will supply Argentina’s first satellite, Arsat 1, which is scheduled to be launched in 2012 and will provide coverage across Latin America.

The only note of caution seems to come from Gustavo Silbert, CEO of Brazilian operator Star One, who fears that the region is headed to another capacity glut. “Most operators are announcing new satellites and/or replacements for the region. There is a potential risk of oversupply within the next two to three years, similar to what happened in 2003 and 2004,” he said — though that fear will not keep Star One from launching a new spacecraft in 2012.

And Silbert’s warning seem to fly in the face of a December report that Brazil itself — home to a growing economy as well as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics — accounts for more than 50 percent of the demand for satellite services in the region.

It looks likely that while Mateos and Hispasat have carved out a nice piece of the Latin American market, the operator soon will find itself among plenty of company.