The Middle East is a market in desperate need of more satellite capacity. It seems as fast as the satellites are going up, the capacity is being snapped up by broadcasters, telcos and others due to an insatiable demand for satellite capacity in the region.
  The market is served by established local players such as Nilesat and Arabsat, who compete alongside industry giants such as SES Americom-New Skies, Eutelsat Communications and Intelsat. And now the region is home to two of the most talked about new satellite operators in the world. Yahsat is building a dual satellite system valued at $1.6 billion, and not to be outdone, a new operator has emerged.
  SmartSat, based in the United Arab Emirates plans to spend $500 million on what it claims is the Arab world’s first private satellite that will serve the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. SmartSat managing director Khaled Derbas discusses the opportunities he sees in the Middle East and where the operator fits in on an increasingly crowded landscape in the region.

DERBAS: In this region, the demand for capacity is very high. The growth in Internet and telecommunication usage requires a lot of capacity. The number of Arab TV channels is growing. The demand is huge. When you look at SmartLink there are customers who want bandwidth for telecoms services via satellite. Unfortunately, the market is saturated. It is difficult to find capacity.

DERBAS: We will be open for every sector. We are targeting the GSM operators. We think we can differentiate our satellite as a communications satellite, so part of it will be for broadcasting. But we are also mainly targeting the GSM operators. We are also looking at telco/ISPs as well as the capacity being used for military purposes. We have a customer base through SmartLink. We are providing satellite services to 35 countries.

DERBAS: We have the freedom in terms of price and power. We can provide exactly what the customer wants. We can give them a price which we think is competitive in this region. We have the freedom to select our customers. We have no outside forces to dictate our price structure or marketing structure. We have the freedom to give different price structures to customers. We think we can open opportunities for companies to get to market faster. There are no obstacles in the market. When you have bandwidth available, this will reduce the price and benefit the customers. If the market is saturated, the price of capacity goes up. We have seen this happen in the Middle East.

DERBAS: It will be Ku-/Ka-/C-band satellite. We know that Ka-band may not be much needed at this time in the region, but over the next few years everything will change. The future for Ka-band is positive, so we have to prepare to have the bandwidth for this technology.

DERBAS: In terms of orbital slots, we have a wide range of options to choose from. We have already shortlisted two of them and shall announce it very soon.

DERBAS: In this business you always need a backup satellite. You cannot launch just one satellite, so during the first three years, we have to look to have another satellite.

The full version of this interview will be presented in the May 2009 issue of Via Satellite. For more information on how to subscribe to Via Satellite, visit www.satellitetoday.com/vip for more information