[Satellite News 01-24-11] While many commercial operators at the 2010 Commercial Satcom Users Workshop are cautious and prepared for budget cuts that could have an impact on revenues and future business, some executives have identified growth opportunities in the next year. The launch of the third Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite, along with the planned launches of several next-generation commercial satellites, has ushered in a new broadband satellite era where Ka-band and X-band systems are giving fresh capacity options to a bandwidth-hungry military.
    Andrew Ruszkowski, vice president of global sales and marketing for Xtar, spoke with Satellite News about the latest developments from providers and customers as well as the sector’s confidence in the sustained and growing strength of military-commercial satcom partnerships.

Satellite News: Do you see demand for commercial X-band continuing to grow in the military sector next year despite upcoming budget cuts?

Ruszkowski: 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. However, we see opportunities for us this year to deliver on the value proposition that Xtar has to offer. My confidence stems from the continued demand for our services and technology from government and military customers and the fact that the orders keep coming in.

Satellite News: Where do you see these opportunities in the government sector?

Ruszkowski: As the government runs out of cash resources to refresh or expand their own space assets, Xtar can bring frequency resources reserved for the government 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. After its termination,  commercial solutions rapidly began to fill the gaps left by its cancellation, truly exemplifying  the value commercial operators can deliver with solutions that are already in place. I think we’ll continue to see that in the future.

Satellite News: In November, Xtar signed an X-band capacity deal with Intelsat General to support military mobile manpacks. Do you think this deal shows the diversity of X-band’s application support?

Ruszkowski: The Intelsat deal serves as an example of the kinds of applications that will be driving that demand. There are several other applications besides manpacks that will continue this push. This is an example of the diverse, flexible sales and marketing strategy from commercial  integrators 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 we can contribute to adding value to the government user.

Satellite News: How will the relationship between decision makers in the military and commercial providers will progress in the near future?

Ruszkowski: At this point, commercial operators would like to see an increasing willingness on the part of the government to engage industry in a spectrum of new dialog. After all, our products and services are basically determined by the government’s requirements. The military 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.

Satellite News: Does the same scenario exist between government policy makers and commercial operators?

Ruszkowski: This year’s new national space 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 path in order to follow through with the commitment that we see in the national space policy.