❝ The [ Asia-Pacific ] region ’ s governments should stand united against any change to current regulations limiting C-band and extended C-band to satellite applications .❞
SPECIAL
SATELLITE 2015
Spectrum key to delivery of current & future satellite services
❝ The [ Asia-Pacific ] region ’ s governments should stand united against any change to current regulations limiting C-band and extended C-band to satellite applications .❞
Established in 1985 , the World Teleport Association ( WTA ) is said to be the only trade association that focuses on the business of satellite communications from the ground up .
The APB Satellite Special sits down with Robert Bell , executive director of the WTA , who shares his views on how the teleport industry can continue to retain its relevance , as well as some of the key issues and challenges facing the satellite service industry this year .
— Robert Bell , Executive Director ,
World Teleport Association
The World Teleport Association publishes an annual list of the top teleport operators around the world . As markets becoming increasingly niched , how can teleport operators continue to re-invent themselves to be relevant and what are some of the main challenges facing the industry ? Bell : That kind of reinvention is something the teleport industry has been doing for decades . The industry itself is focused on serving niches : the secret to success in the business is to find a niche and then deliver as broad and focused a service offering to it as you can .
In essence , successful teleports become outsourcers that take on key parts of the customer ’ s systems . The challenges they face are about ensuring that they have the right people , the right technologies and the right approach to customer service . We see this in companies such as Globecast and Encompass Digital Media , which provide so much contribution and distribution for media and entertainment companies . But it is equally true of Singtel , with its huge business in maritime communications .
Last year , the ITU announced new steps to address harmful interference with satellite transmissions . In your opinion , is the ITU call timely and how is the issue of satellite interference particularly relevant to the Asia-Pacific region ? Bell : Interference is an issue with more than one facet . The most common is unintentional interference resulting from simple mistakes . Most of it is intermittent , lasting a few minutes . Some is longerlasting , however , and typically results from poor equipment or poorly trained ( and poorly paid ) installers of VSAT networks , which generate most of the RF interference affecting satellite . With the rise of LEO ( low Earth orbit ) and MEO ( medium Earth orbit ) communications constellations , the potential for interference is continuing to rise . That makes the ITU declaration in favour of expanded monitoring and tracking a very welcome contribution .
Another important category of interference is the threat of C-band and extended C-band being opened up to the
mobile industry . This will be decided at the World Radiocommunications Conference ( WRC-15 ) this November . Here , the threat to the Asia-Pacific region is particularly dire because C-band is critical to TV and radio distribution , Internet access and , ironically , mobile backhaul . The region ’ s governments should stand united against any change to current regulations limiting C-band and extended C-band to satellite applications .
Various reports published last year have identified satellite as the leading platform for the delivery of 4K Ultra UD content to the home . Would you agree with this assessment , and how will the emergence of technologies such as DVB-S2X and HEVC feature in the equation ? Bell : If consumers adopt 4K and eventually 8K , it will put big strains on terrestrial distribution systems , which are inherently synchronous . Satellite has the unique property of excelling at broadcasting from one to many points . But it has been , until recently , very bandwidth-constrained compared with terrestrial networks . As our new white paper , Profiting from High-Throughput Services , makes clear , that barrier is starting to fall .
It is falling because of a combination of technologies on the ground such as ACM , DVB-S2X , MF-TDMA and HEVC , as well as changing satellite architectures such as Intelsat EpicNG . As the 4K opportunity matures , satellite is very well positioned to lead in its distribution .
Even with the emergence of enabling technologies , 4K Ultra HD will require more bandwidth than is currently required to deliver HD services to the home . Can you elaborate on how critical WRC-15 will be , with spectrum to be considered for mobile services , as you have pointed out ? Bell : Recent studies from Futron and other respected research firms have identified a large gap between how much spectrum mobile carriers say they will need and their actual usage . To take just one example , WiMAX carriers confidently predicted that they would build a subscriber base of 15 million by 2007 . The actual number was about one million . Currently , 22 % of already-licensed spectrum remains unused by mobile operators .
When the ITU tried to project future mobile spectrum demand through 2020 , it estimated that 1340-1960MHz would be required . The model used to develop that forecast , however , assumed a typical traffic density that is 200 times the volume generated by the 2014 World Cup Final across a population density equal to the densest square kilometre of Tokyo .
Those are not real-world conditions . To make a long story short , forecast of future demand by the mobile industry need to be taken with a shaker of salt . And the ability of the satellite industry to increase the effective throughput of its transponders is improving at an accelerating rate . I would say that , unless misguided regulatory decisions interfere with its ability to deliver services , satellite is the technology of choice for higher-resolution video .
10 An
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