Last year was a particularly important year for FSS operators as a number of important strategic Ka-band investments were made. Over the past 18 months, 17 FSS operators invested in Ka-band, with six of those companies already completing Ka-band capacity service launches, according to a Euroconsult FSS sector study.
   “2010 saw more contrasted performances among operators, with 90 percent of all active FSS operators seeing revenue growth in 2010 and 10 operators even achieving growth of 20 percent or more. More than half of those operators, however, experienced slower revenue growth than during the previous year,”  Euroconsult Senior Consultant Richard Roithner told Via Satellite

   Euroconsult believes that certain dynamic trends displayed last year may provide hints on how FSS operators plan to capitalize on next-generation services regardless of bandwidth. The report’s findings indicate that 10 operators added more than 100 TV channels on their satellites and that 12 operators added one or more DTH pay-TV platforms in 2010.

   “Regional operators continued to see strong business growth from various applications including DTH TV broadcasting, cellular backhaul and enterprise networks,” said Roithner. “Many of these regional operators are continuing their ambitious expansion plans with growing satellite fleets and a number of satellite launches still ahead in the coming years.”

   While analysts try to pinpoint where FSS operators will look to kick-start revenue growth rates, satellite executives have revealed a variety of different strategies. Eutelsat Communications CEO Michel de Rosen recently told Via Satellite that its strategy depends on the strength of its new Ka-band satellite, Ka-Sat, which has now entered into commercial service. “We have six satellites to launch during the period 2011 and 2013 that will renew and increase our in-orbit capacity by 25 percent including Ka-Sat. You can expect us to work on driving our revenues by focusing the three pillars of Eutelsat’s growth — video, broadband and multi-usage,” he said.

   SES CEO Romain Bausch said his company is looking at region-specific business models to leverage potential opportunities in growing verticals. “There are huge markets for DTH growth, such as India and Brazil, but there is also a strong demand for backhaul services for cellular operators and broadband services,” said Bausch. “We see good demand in Africa for trunking and backhauling services through O3b. One element that is not often recognized is that there is a unique opportunity for satellites to help terrestrial operators bridge the gap in terms of putting more bandwidth into their network. We are investing in satellites providing additional bandwidth where we know there will be fiber and undersea cable, such as in Africa. Satellite solutions will continue to be, by far, the most cost efficient solution in many of these regions, more efficient than terrestrial solutions.”

   Despite the fact that 10 FSS operators reported full-year 2010 revenue growth exceeding 20 percent, more than half of the major FSS operators also reported a slowdown in revenue growth. Additionally, 17 FSS operators reported transponder fill rates of 80 percent or more, while seven had average fill rates of less than 70 percent.

  Roithner said these statistics reveal that the operator market may still be a bit fragmented. “Although the top five operators accounted for about 70 percent of the industry’s revenues, the rest of the market is still fragmented with growing competition among the operators. In particular, the Asian market is increasingly crowded with 20 operators active in the region in 2010.”