by Katie McConnell

Michael Young, Hongkong Telecom’s marketing manager, says, "The digitization of television channels has created enormous growth in the total number of satellite channels available. Multiple channel per carrier offers broadcasters the opportunity to switch to digital and expand to several channels without the extra burden of transponder charges."

More specifically, NTL’s Steve Holebrook, director of satellite services, says the introduction of MPEG technology has revolutionized the market. "MPEG has made it possible for many more channels to be launched and has resulted in international connectivity becoming more affordable," he says. "Cable programmers can now distribute their programming for as little as $500,000, where previously it would have typically cost as much as $3 million for satellite capacity and uplinking services."

With more channels available and cheaper satellite capacity, a growing number of players are coming into the broadcasting game. To maintain the profit margins of yesteryear, when analog reigned supreme, these players must broadcast to a larger audience, which often means reaching beyond the borders of one’s home country. If not for a certain degree of deregulation enjoyed by the satellite industry in the past five years, the advancements created by digitization would be for naught.

"Deregulation of the industry has had a massive impact on the industry, creating international opportunities," notes British Telecom’s Tony Rybacki, general manager of the commercial division.

Furthermore, Teleglobe’s Tom Fabian, director of broadcast services, contends that the "most significant changes have been the introduction of the Internet and full acceptance of MPEG 2 as an international standard, which has opened up program distribution and importing and exporting content to new contenders."

With these changes, the teleport industry itself has had to adapt to this digital, international environment. And as we move into the next millennium with such applications as data broadcasting and multimedia on the horizon, one can expect that teleports will make certain their facilities are ready.

British Telecom

Deregulation throughout the world has jumpstarted BT Broadcast Services’ international business. According to Rybacki, "Deregulation of the industry has had a massive impact, creating international opportunities, which we have seized upon by operating globally." He adds that approximately half of BT Broadcast Services’ revenue will be from international markets this year.

Today, the company operates dozens of teleport facilities, comprising approximately 100 dishes and a fleet of 44 satellite trucks and flyaways, providing hundreds of broadcast channels. Boasting a strong presence in Europe, the company operates five facilities in the United Kingdom: two in London and one each in Goonhilly, Madley and Marlesham. In addition, BT operates facilities out of Paris, Moscow and Brussels and has a range of remotely managed on-site systems at customer sites in Germany, Italy and Benelux. In the United States, BT operates a teleport out of Washington, DC.

This network of teleports uplinks to all major satellite systems, including Intelsat, Eutelsat, Astra, New Skies Satellites, Orion and Panamsat. Operating in mostly Ku- and C-band, each teleport can uplink whatever frequency customers require, according to Rybacki. Clients include major broadcasters and cable programmers around the world who want to uplink into and out of Europe, such as ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, BBC, Canal+, Telepiu, Rai, ITV Sport, EBU, Canal Antilles, TF1, MNet and Star TV.

In addition to providing the usual technological services of uplinking and downlinking at BT Broadcast Services, "we operate a global news contribution/distribution network on Intelsat 602 and Intelsat 605, spanning the Atlantic and Indian Ocean region," Rybacki says. "Over 15 partners/carriers work with us in this network to allow us to provide end-to-end digital services between all key centers, including Delhi, Bangkok, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, South Africa, Jerusalem, the United States, Argentina and Brazil. We also operate high-power Ku-band Brightstar services over the Atlantic between Europe and the Americas."

Globecast

Globecast is a global transmission provider with regional business units in the United States, London, Paris and Singapore. Lately, however, the company has been putting a lot of money into its U.S. offices to better serve the international marketplace. More than $50 million is being used to expand and/or upgrade the company’s Miami, Los Angeles, New York and Washington, DC, offices.

Approximately $18 million is being invested over the course of three years to expand and upgrade the Miami production and transmission complex. "The facility is already digital capable," says Bob Behar, president and CEO of Globecast. "And we’re building HDTV studios and post rooms, as well as making other major improvements."

When completed, the first phase of the expansion and upgrade will produce an approximately 200,000-square-foot broadcast complex on 8.5 acres of land.

In Culver City, CA, the company has installed eight new antennas. In addition, $7 million is being used to build a new control center and origination center, according to Behar. "The Culver City upgrade is a direct response to the growing needs of our large base of network origination and syndication customers on the West Coast," he adds. Globecast North America’s international teleport and network origination center in Culver City is Globecast’s principal booking and routing center in North America, managing transmission traffic for Globecast’s teleports in Culver City and Sylmar, CA; New York and Washington, DC. In addition to serving broadcasters in the Los Angeles media market, the two California teleports act as international turnaround hubs for transmissions to and from the Asia-Pacific region.

A large portion of the $50 million investment is going to regular recurring capital expenditures at all North American locations over the next five years. The Staten Island facility in New York is being upgraded with a new router, as well as being reconfigured to maximize its capacity for playback. In Washington, DC, the company recently installed a new video control center, featuring switched transmissions, playback services and editing facilities.

All of these changes are being incorporated because Behar says the teleport industry has evolved from a reseller and uplink provider to a service-oriented environment "where we’re providing soup-to-nuts to the customer." Clients include HBO Ol[acceptable], Sony, Cisneros, MGM, Hallmark, Disney and Paramount.

Hongkong Telecom

Even though parts of Asia have suffered economic setbacks in the recent past, this part of the world is home to approximately one-third of the world’s population. Not surprising, program distributors around the world are sending their signals to this region via satellite. And of those who do, most will tell you they work with Hongkong Telecom (HKT). The largest commercial teleport in Asia, the company offers a written reliability guarantee of 99.99 percent service level availability.

The company operates two teleports out of Hong Kong. Together, the teleports house three 32-meter antennas, two 9.1 meters and "we have a total of 20 dedicated satellite dishes for uplinking/downlinking, Young says. "Other than that, we also have TT&C antennas providing services to other satellite operators."

For regional broadcasters, HKT provides uplinking service to customers’ dedicated transponders or HKT’s leased transponders via a live feed or video tape playback. For some channels, HKT provides turnaround services from a transatlantic signal to a more regionalized beam. And in some instances, the teleport provides a downlinking signal to customers via a direct connection to its earth stations.

With its central location, the teleports have access to Intelsat POR and IOR satellites, Asiasat 1, 2 and 3S, Panamsat, Palapa C2, TDRSS, Apstar 1 and Apstar 2R and the Inmarsat satellites. Most customers request C-band services, but the facility also provides uplinks and downlinks for Ku-band.

And while clients have dwindled in the past years due to the economic crisis, Young is confident business is picking up, especially with the demand for multimedia services increasing. "As compared with the other communications sectors, the growth of the satellite TV business in Asia has slowed due to the economic crisis," he says. "But, we see there are new opportunities in the multimedia and Internet sector, offering satellite receiving clients the power of the Internet and data broadcasting. This is a new area of business, which will bring in new revenue for not only Hongkong Telecom, but all operators involved in these kinds of projects. In the near future, Hongkong Telecom will also provide these multimedia satellite services to corporate and individual users around the Asian region."

NTL

NTL currently operates three facilities in the United Kingdom. The primary facility is in Winchester, which is approximately 70 miles southeast of London. A second facility is operated out of central London on Oxford Street, which is the company’s primary interconnect node for all its customers. Thus, all traffic is routed via this facility, even if it is being uplinked from the Winchester facility. "We also have a small facility on the outskirts of London in Croydon at one of our terrestrial TV mast sites," says NTL’s Holebrook. "However, we are reducing our presence at this location and concentrating our efforts at the existing Winchester teleport and a new facility."

The new facility is a recently purchased teleport that will be part of the Winchester teleport. "This facility will be a major development and has recently received planning permission for up to 21 major antennas," he says. "And we will look to open the new facility in Q1 (first quarter) next year."

The company operates more than 30 antennas that range in size from 13 meters down to 5.6 meters. The vast majority of these are located at the main teleport in Winchester. In addition, the company owns a fleet of SNG trucks and flyaways. "We have access to all major satellites in the visible arc from 307øE to 68.5ø E," Holebrook adds. "We have a number of agile antennas that we use for occasional services, which are therefore available to access any satellite in the visible arc." Those satellites operate both in the C- and Ku-band and include Intelsat, New Skies, Panamsat, Arabsat, Eutelsat, Orion, Astra and GE. In addition, the company has locked down antennas on the major satellites of Europe, including Astra 1C, 1D, 1G and 2A, Orion 1, GE 1E, Intelsat 332.5øE, NSS 57øE, Intelsat 64øE and Eutelsat W2.

Currently, NTL transmits to more than 100 full-time channels 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Thus, the company boasts a comprehensive customer base, including the BBC, CNN, Channel 5, the Cartoon Network, Discovery, Flextech, National Geographic, GVC, TNT and Zee TV, among others.

Sislink

Another U.K. teleport is London-based Sislink. The company operates four fixed antennas out of its London headquarters, including one 4.6-meter Andrew antenna, two 3.7-meter Andrew antennas and a 2.4 meter Vertex antenna. In addition, more than 30 transportable uplinks are offered by Sislink.

Unlike the other teleports surveyed for this article, Sislink uplinks mostly in the Ku-band, uplinking in frequencies ranging from 14.0 GHz to 18 GHz. The satellites Sislink can access include GE 1E, Sirius and Eutelsat 2F3.

For the company to grow, Mark Kingston, managing director of Sislink, says he would like to see "industry standards for compression and the de-liberalization of satellite legislation in Europe."

Teleglobe

Teleglobe operates three teleports using 37 uplink antennas to provide satellite services to its customers. In addition, the uplinking service provider ranks as the fourth largest provider in North America, according to Telegeography, and is the third largest owner of undersea fiber-optic cable systems behind MCI and AT&T, according to a recent study by KMI Corp.

"We pump incredible amounts of traffic through our teleports," says Fabian. An Intelsat signatory, the company provides telecommunications services to more than 240 countries and territories, with access to all major satellite systems, including Intelsat, Eutelsat, Panamsat, Orion, Telecom 2A and all U.S. and Canadian satellite systems.

Already one of the largest communications providers, Teleglobe is constantly expanding. Most recently, the company announced that it would invest $5 billion over the next five years to build what it is calling Globesystem, a globally integrated Internet, voice, data and video network. The Globesystem will increase Teleglobe’s currently installed network capacity by more than 180-fold, according to Fabian, and provide customers with direct network access from 160 major cities worldwide.

In addition, to accommodate the growth in data distribution, the company has been intensifying its efforts to provide services for these market segments. Most recently, the company added Internet routers, digital uplinks to include modulators and transmitters, and purchased and deployed 100 MPEG 2 DVB encoders.

Among Teleglobe’s current offerings are U.S. domestic and international voice services, international toll free services, calling cards, Internet access, ATM, international private lines and broadcast transmission. A subsidiary of Canada’s Teleglobe Inc., Teleglobe Communications Corp. was founded in 1995 and currently has more than 1,500 employees around the world. Among its customers are nearly 600 carriers, Internet service providers in nearly 100 countries, more than 100 of the world’s leading television broadcasters and a growing number of multinational corporations.

Teleglobe provides a full range of international broadcast transmission services on a full-time and occasional-use basis. More than 100 of the world’s top broadcasters use the service of intercontinental digital television transmission, including ABC, BBC, CBC, CNN, the Ethnic American Broadcasting Co., ESPN, Fuji-TV, Israeli Channel 2 News, the Sports Network and TV New Zealand.

Complementing these broadcast services is what Teleglobe calls Millennium. This service sends video formatted in the MPEG 2 4:2:2 standard for high-definition and digital television over an ATM backbone, "enabling broadcasters to transport multiple, high-quality channels on the same amount of bandwidth currently required by a single channel in analog mode," according to Fabian.

Kingston TLI

Kingtson TLI operates four teleport facilities-three in the United Kingdom and one in Belgium. The U.K. facilities are located in Chalfont, Bedford and Hull. The Belgium facility is located in Brussels.

In Chalfont, TLI operates five C-band, 10 Ku-band and two 17 GHz band antennas. In Bedford, 10 uplinks are operated, comprising seven Ku-band, two 17 GHz band and one X-band. The Hull and Brussels facilities each have one antenna, a Ku-band and a 17 GHz-band, respectively.

Customers can uplink to the Intelsat AOR and IOR satellites; Intelsat 707; NSS AOR (C- and Ku-band) and IOR (C-band) satellites; Orion F1; Columbia 515; Hot Bird 3, 4 and 5; Sirius 2; Astra 2A; Afristar; Eutelsat 2, 3 and W3; Kopernikus, as well as other satellites between 53øW and 68.5øE in C- and Ku-band for occasional use.

Broadcasters from all over the world use TLI’s facilities. Clients include ITN, BBC, CNBC, Fox, Muslim TV, Reuters, Globecast, AT&T, Televisa, British Forces Broadcasting, GE and Japan Telecom, among others.

Most recently, the company added a satellite-based multimedia broadcast network for Internet and other IP delivery called Kingston Multicast. Compliant with the international standards for DVB, the service uses GE Americom’s GE-1E DTH satellite, with a footprint covering Western and Eastern Europe, North Africa, parts of Scandinavia, the Middle East and Central Asia. Coupled with the service, Kingston also is offering fiber circuits from London-based customers and content providers to Kingston’s uplink and Tier 1 Internet connectivity.

Williams VYVX

Williams Vyvx Services is an international provider of integrated fiber-optic, satellite and teleport video transmission services. The company operates five teleport facilities-four full service and one for ad distribution. Its full service facilities are located in Carteret, NJ; Atlanta, GA; Denver, CO; and Steel Valley, CA, which serves the Los Angeles market. Clients include CNN and other Turner and Time Warner entities such as ABC, ESPN, NBC, CNBC and MSNBC, as well as all the major league sports entities, including the NFL, NBA, Major League Baseball, the NHL and Major League Soccer.

To help its clients distribute programming internationally, Williams Vyvx has 25 dedicated international antennas and "we deliver data signals to serve the Internet, voice and dedicated data business," says Wes Hanemayer, vice president of teleport and satellite services for Williams Vyvx Services.

Most recently, the company announced that it is adding international data capabilities to four of its teleports. The multimillion dollar expansion is expected to enable Vyvx to carry a full range of data traffic through its U.S. teleports, as well as broadcast video domestically and internationally.

Furthering Vyvx’s global reach, all four teleports have increased their total antenna capacity by installing Ku-band dishes and six C-band antennas to support increasing demands for international uplinking and downlinking services and to expand domestic capabilities. A master control facility designed to enhance international monitoring and satellite-to-terrestrial switching capabilities has been added to the New Jersey teleport. The Steele Valley facility also has added a second OC-12 local loop connection to provide increased capacity and redundancy from its Los Angeles teleport. Furthermore, the Denver teleport has added equipment that is designed to provide more effective and efficient management of direct broadcast satellite and direct-to-home satellite traffic.

"Power upgrades at each of the teleports, coupled with the increased capacity and capabilities, provide additional options for our customers," Hanemayer says. "Instead of growing with our customers, we’ve made significant changes up front so that as our customers’ needs expand, we’re ready to handle them, whether the application is video, voice, data or Internet."

In addition to the international capabilities, Vyvx has built a new Satellite Services Center collocated with its Upsouth teleport in Atlanta to take satellite and teleport reservations 24 hours per day, seven days a week.

The Future

Internet applications and data broadcasting are most certainly going to be critical elements of tomorrow’s teleports. As far as the television industry equation is concerned, many expect continued global deregulation will encourage more program distributors to enter new markets, thus demanding more services from teleports. BT’s Rybacki adds, "Much is set to change in the world of corporate information and communication as a result of the convergence of IP and DVB networks. We also see continued growth in demand for fast IP satellite network solutions-for Internet backbone and IP multicast applications, including affordable digital business television, turbo Internet and Intranet services."

Furthermore, the influx of satellites in various orbits and the prospect of spectrum sharing is creating an even newer paradigm within which the teleport industry must operate. As HKT’s Young says, "Whereas in the last 10 to 20 years most satellite services have been based on GEO satellites, there are many emerging trends for using LEO and MEO satellites for voice and broadband services. It is a challenge for the industry to keep up."

Yet, despite these changes that are expected to take place, the industry will not advance if the regulatory environment takes a 180-degree turn, as some fear, or if satellites and launchers experience the same failure rate as they did last year. Teleglobe’s Fabian sums the situation up well when he says: "I’d like to see the satellite operators fix their problems with their spacecraft; it would give us more abundance. I would also like to see international markets deregulate and entreprenurial companies to launch their own satellites to provide adequate competition, and see manufacturers build payloads that are more flexible and reliable. The manufacturers have been focusing more on impressing Wall Street than focusing on their business of building spacecraft. They need to get back on their core business of maintaining and expanding their fleet." If the satellite industry does not heed this warning, they could very well lose their strength in the marketplace and be surpassed by fiber-optic systems as was once predicted by telecommunications experts just five years ago. But, if fiber starts to win over satellites, the teleports are ready.

Katie McConnell is Senior Editor of Via Satellite.

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