News and Notes of Interest to the Satellite Community

News and Notes of Interest to the Satellite Community

Latin America, broadly identified as the countries of Central America, South America, and the island states of the Caribbean, represents approximately 8.5 percent of the world’s population and about 7.6 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP).

Particularly in the current global economic climate, but always a topic of concern, satellite service providers are seeking to get more out of what they already have, or to do the same, with less. In competition with terrestrial markets, it is important for satellite service providers to always offer the best possible value to customers. Advances in technology are making this goal possible. Research and development departments are working overtime to come up with new and innovative solutions to achieve this goal.

Europe is suffering a massive amount of deliberate satellite jamming—most is coming from the Middle East and, mainly, affects ArabSat and NileSat. However, the deliberate jamming is also adversely affecting Paris-based Eutelsat.

The recent award to South Africa of the US$2.5B Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project represents a critical milestone in the continent’s efforts to stimulate its nascent space industry, and develop its space science capabilities. More importantly, the decision highlights the growing realization among African decision-makers about the importance and benefits of space as driving force underpinning technological advancement, economic growth, and societal benefit. Space positively influences our daily likes—from weather forecasting to telecommunications—and an increasing number of African nations and institutions seek to tap the promised space data, applications, and services.

Encouraged largely by Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski and the newly established Hosted Payload Office (HPO) under her command, the FY13 President’s budget created several different funding lines in support of hosted payloads.

In 2012, despite the negative impact of the United States and Europe’s financial crises and China’s economic slowdown, Latin America managed to sustain its dynamic pace and GDP increase. Growth rates of around 3.5 percent and 5.5 percent were experienced, fueled in part by the vast development of regional industries, such as mining, energy and oil activities (*).

These are extremely challenging times for employers who need to acquire top level talent as well as for those seeking a career change. Today, companies’ economics compel them to re-assess their talent needs in order to remain competitive and drive growth. The satellite communications industry is ripe with new opportunities. Employers are challenged with making a “great hire.” For the candidate, finding an opportunity can sometimes be a rather difficult proposition.

Ali Ahmed Al-Kuwari is Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Es’hailSat. Prior to this appointment Mr. Al-Kuwari was Assistant Secretary General at ictQATAR. He also held the position of Finance Director at ictQATAR and was a member of the organization’s management team overseeing the strategic investment in the satellite initiative which became Es’hailSat. Mr. Al-Kuwari has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Master’s degree in Financial Decision Analysis. He joined ictQATAR in 2006 following senior financial and managerial positions with Customs & Ports General Authority, RasGas and the Ministry of Finance.

Based in Singapore, Mr. Vivian Quenet has led the Asia-Pacific sales efforts for KVH Industries since March 2011. Before joining KVH, Mr. Quenet served as director, Asia-Pacific, for mobile satellite communications provider Vizada, where he oversaw all operations for the company’s office in southeast Asia. Over the course of 10 years with that company, Mr. Quenet worked to bring satellite communications services to commercial mariners in several regions across the globe.

Intorel Sarl, based in Luxembourg, has proven how much can be accomplished in a mere four days with the proper planning, testing, and more testing, all while working closely with the client.

Can Service Providers be more profitable by offering a number of service offerings to customers? Or does that make your operations and network less efficient?

The challenge—communications and logistics are one of the most complex decisions that must be faced by mining, oil and gas companies. The decision’s complexity is further complicated for companies that require frequent site relocations. The exploration team needs to communicate as if every remote site is but an extension of their corporate network. The logistics process associated with relocation must be optimized and the costs must be minimized.

Many nations are making big strides toward the implementation of Digital Terrestrial Television (DTT), and for good reason. Digital signals provide improved reception quality and enable the delivery of larger channel lineups and enhanced multimedia applications such as video-on-demand and entertainment services. Switching from analog to DTT signals also allows for the more efficient use of spectrum, as frequencies formerly used by analog broadcasts can be repurposed for wireless networks that can contribute to national economic growth.

São Paulo State is the driver of the Brazilian economy, but even this highly developed State has regions where terrestrial communications is difficult. Telefonica had the obligation to provide USO services across the São Paulo. They selected Gilat to create a turnkey solution running on the SkyEdge™ System with remote facilities integrating VSAT, payphones, rectifiers and solar panels, which Gilat supplied in only 90 days.

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading integrated telecommunications company with operations in 20 countries across Africa and Asia. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top five mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company’s product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G services, fixed line, high-speed broadband through DSL, IPTV, DTH, and enterprise services including national and international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G mobile services.