[Satellite News 12-10-10] While many commercial operators at the 2010 Commercial Satcom Users Workshop in Crystal City, Va. are cautious and prepared for budget cuts that could have an impact on revenues and future business, some satellite executives have identified growth opportunities in the next year.
    “There’s no doubt that any talk of government budget cuts is going to be a concern for us. The government is our sole customer and given that we’re X-band, we don’t have the option to fall back on the commercial or enterprise sectors,” Xtar’s Vice Preisdent of Global Sales Andrew Ruszkowski told Satellite News. “However, we see this an opportunity for us to deliver on the value that we think is possible for Xtar. As the government runs out of cash resources to refresh or expand their own resources, Xtar can bring government allocated assets into use without the government having to make large capital investments of their own. A good example of this is what happened with the TSAT cancellation in 2009. I think that what happened after its termination, with commercial solutions rapidly filling the gaps left by its cancellation, truly explains the value commercial operators can deliver with solutions that are already in place. I think we’ll continue to see that in the future.”
    Commercial operators’ confidence stems from the continued demand for its services and technology from government and military customers. Despite the threat of a restricted military budget, orders continue to pour in. Xtar in November won a bandwidth contract to provide 16 MHz of X-band services to Intelsat General from the Xtar-Lant satellite over the Atlantic Ocean. Intelsat General will use the capacity to support military, mobile, manpack terminals prior to deployment and to satisfy U.S. military customer requirements for X-band satellite capacity.
    Ruszkowski said the Intelsat deal demonstrates the increasing demand for commercial X-band and serves as an example of the kinds of applications that will be driving that demand. “There are several other applications besides manpacks that also will continue this push. It is an example of the diverse, flexible sales and marketing strategy from commercial operators to make our space segment as easily accessible as possible for the government user. We find that selling through value-added resellers like Intelsat General is one way in which we can contribute to adding value to the government user.”
    During the workshop, commercial operators voiced their desire for an increasing willingness on the part of the government to engage industry in a spectrum of new dialog. TeleCommunication Systems Senior Vice President and General Manager Michael Bristol joined Ruszkowski in describing the ways commercial companies could expand their engagement. “Our products and services are basically determined by the government’s requirements. The government can sit by passively, or they can start engaging in more informal talks, followed by more formalized RFIs to see what they need. The goal is to get to a contracted engagement, where there are established commitments to spend money on specific capability. We can deliver on their needs much faster if this happens,” he said.
    Ruszkowski said new federal policy gives both parties the tools to expand engagement. “Commercial operators will change the shape of their beams or the power of their satellites to meet whatever requirements the military has. I’m waiting to see if the government is finally ready to start moving down that conversation spectrum and follow through with the commitment that we see in the national space policy,” he said.