Page 62 - SAMENA Trends - August 2019

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World Teleport Association’s Operator Benchmarks 2019 Report

The World Teleport Association (WTA) has published their Operator
Benchmarks 2019, the ninth in its report series, which tracks,
rates and compares the operational and commercial performance
of satellite operators, as experienced by teleport operators, in
order to strengthen the industry by driving self-improvement
across all companies. The Benchmarks study got its start from
concerns among teleport operators about direct competition from
their satellite vendors for managed service business. In 2019, the
majority trend for satellite operators was toward increased direct
competition with teleport operators, according to respondents.
Five of nine were cited for competing directly more often in 2019
than in 2015. The 2019 survey reports on nine global and regional
satellite operators: ABS Global, Arabsat, AsiaSat, Eutelsat,
Gazprom, Hispasat, Intelsat, SES and Telesat. ABS Global and
Gazprom are new to the analysis this year. Among key findings
was the average price paid for satellite capacity rose 60%. The
reason seems to be that teleport operators are buying in lower
volume, with the strongest growth in annual commitments of less
than 100 MHz. Overall, teleport operators rated the commercial
performance of satellite operators 8% lower than the previous year.
Research for the report was conducted by Futuresource, which
provides market research, analytics, and forecasts to industry.
WTA Executive Director and report author Robert Bell said that
satellite operators have seen the future, and it is in managed
services. This makes commercial sense for them, because the
value of networks lies not in connectivity but in the ability of
that connectivity to solve problems or create opportunities for
customers. Most teleport operators made this transition long
ago, as the margins available from basic uplinking shrank to the
vanishing point. With their satellite vendors now making the same search for new efficiencies in their businesses and new roles in
move and ratcheting up the competitive pressure, teleports are in the market.

Nahid-1 Satellite Ready to Be Launched

Nahid-1 telecommunication satellite is Nahid-1, which means “Venus” in Persian, artificial satellite that relays and amplifies
ready to be delivered to Defense Ministry is a Low-Earth orbit communications radio telecommunications signals via a
within few days for being launched, micro-class satellite, designed and transponder; it creates a communication
Iran’s Minister of Communications and developed by ISA in cooperation with channel between a source transmitter and
Information Technology Mohammad the Iranian Space Research Center. The a receiver at different locations on Earth.
Javad Azari Jahromi announced. “It is a solar-powered satellite will be placed in Iran successfully launched into orbit its
home-grown telecommunication satellite the geosynchronous orbit for carrying first indigenous data-processing satellite,
and can stay in space for 2.5 month, 250 out telecommunication missions. A Omid (Hope) in February 2009.
kilometers away from earth,” he said. telecommunications satellite is an

62 AUGUST 2019