SPECIAL
SATELLITE 2015
C-band frequencies vital to satellite services in Asia-Pacific
Asian governments need to sit up and take notice of the huge contribution by satellite C-band communications
... before making key decisions on spectrum priorities .
by john medeiros
Adequate spectrum for the satellite communications industry is essential to Asian consumers ’ ability to receive the thousands of television streams that make up the Asian pay-TV industry .
In recent years , CASBAA , its Satellite Industry Committee and its Wireless Action Group have been active , with other international satellite industry associations , in urging national and international regulatory bodies not to make frequency assignments that will result in fatal interference with TV broadcasts .
C-band frequencies ( 3.4-4.2GHz ) are vital to operations of satellite services , particularly in tropical and sub tropical regions , where other spectrum bands are bedevilled by “ rain fade ”.
Societies in the Asia-Pacific rely on C-band communications to support business communications , telemedicine , distance education , disaster recovery — and , of course , getting broadcast content to the region ’ s 500 million pay-TV homes .
But other groups have their eye on the C-band frequencies . Several national administrations have already assigned portions of that band for wireless broadband systems — with disastrous results . The most recent addition to this list is the Philippines , where authorities have allowed a telco to start up an LTE mobile system in the 3.5GHz band — resulting in cable operators and cable customers in numerous cities around the country being unable to receive TV channels all the way up to 4GHz ! Cable operators are scrambling to move and re-equip their receiving antennas , which is likely to mitigate the problem — but the lower “ extended ” C-band will be lost .
Now the ITU is considering making the C-band available all around the world for use by 4-G ( IMT ) telephone systems . Where 4-G systems are licensed in these frequencies , the corresponding satellite reception will be lost — the laws of physics make co-existence impossible . This would be a disaster for broadcasting and other industries in tropical countries . It is a case of tropical developing countries being asked to sacrifice for the benefit of telecom industries in already highly-developed temperate lands .
During the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum in Singapore in June last year , the association welcomed issuance of the first authoritative study of the extent to which satellite C-band services provide socio-economic benefits to tropical countries in the Asia-Pacific region . The study found that “ C-band is extensively used for communication networks , often of critical importance to these countries ’ economy , society or security ”.
Paris-based technology consultancy Euroconsult examined the situation on the ground in three markets representative of the diverse economies of southern Asia and the Pacific , and found that — in addition to the hundreds
of millions of consumers who rely on C-band television streams — the banking and finance , energy production , and government sectors were particularly dependent on satellite networks using C-band spectrum , which is prized for its reliability and scope of coverage .
The markets selected for the study were India ( a huge , continental rapidly industrialising nation ), Indonesia ( a very populous archipelagic nation ) and Papua New Guinea ( the largest of the Pacific Island nations ).
All three countries use C-band networks as the lynchpin of their disaster emergency communications , in particular as part of extremely time-sensitive systems being deployed to warn coastal populations of impending tsunamis .
India has made C-band communications a key part of its security operations , with more than 7,000 C-band antennas deployed by security forces to defend the country and keep the peace .
In Papua New Guinea , the reliability of C-band communications is essential to providing essential real-time monitoring of wells and pipelines to guarantee safe and reliable liquefied natural gas production .
Indonesia ’ s financial industry uses C-band communications to service the country ’ s far-flung regions and improve rural connectivity . Some 75,000 ATMs use C-band to dispense a daily volume of more than US $ 400 million , and one Indonesian bank recently announced plans to procure its own satellite “ to reach people in all corners of the country in support of the financial inclusion programme ”. The Indonesian government is also using C-band to deliver essential e-services around the country , including providing the entire population with biometric identity cards .
Finally , huge numbers of Asians depend on C-band for their information and entertainment . In the countries studied as well as others in tropical Asia , as many as 30 million individual consumer households are estimated to watch TV through their own C-band dishes . Several hundred million other consumers subscribe to cable or Ku-band satellite TV services , whose content is delivered by C-band .
The Euroconsult report notes that C-band communications benefit from two physical characteristics that make it so central to Asia ’ s environment : resistance to “ rain fade ” and availability of wide beams . As a result , billions of dollars have been invested in 60 C-band satellites over Asia , providing almost half ( 47 %) of the total satellite capacity used in the region . Euroconsult estimates the annual value of the C-band capacity market in Asia at US $ 800 million annually .
CASBAA believes Asian governments need to sit up and take notice of the huge contribution by satellite C-band communications to their populations and their economies before making key decisions on spectrum priorities .
John Medeiros is chief policy officer at CASBAA .
14 An
Supplement