Beyond satellite and launch vehicle manufacturing, the industry now delivers communications services used by businesses and consumers each day, including broadband and Internet access, streaming media to the desktop, cable and video program distribution, direct broadcast satellite television, distance learning and private business networks, mobile telephony, remote communications, and soon to-be-launched direct-to-consumer digital radio. Today, satellites are only starting to

show how well they fit into the global information infrastructure.

According to Scott Sacknoff, President of the ISBC, "The industry's active growth can be attributed to the shift to a digital, wireless world. Companies have been rapidly taking advantage of satellites' ability to reach a geographically diverse customer base and broadcast to multiple locations simultaneously.

"Combined with dramatic increases in bandwidth requirements, the telecommunications, media, Internet, and entertainment communities have embraced satellites and made them an integral part of their overall infrastructure.

We are seeing an increasing number of customers and partners from diverse firms such as Microsoft, General Motors, Hertz, Arthur Daniels Midland, Cisco Systems, America Online, and Disney," said Sacknoff.

"The data and mobility revolution is providing us with the flexibility to access information, communicate, and organize our businesses and our lives", said Andrea Maleter of Pricewaterhousecoopers.

"Pent-up demand worldwide for various mobile services together with the critical nature of data capabilities for businesses and consumers is fueling rapid acceptance of satellite and more specifically, broadband services.

"Companies around the globe are recognizing the vast opportunity for providing these services, enabling them to expand their businesses and spur further growth of this new global economy," said Maleter.

In its comprehensive report on the space industry's expansion and contribution to the global economy, the ISBC recorded that twenty-four companies posted stock market gains of 99.5 percent or better, and over 50 mergers and acquisitions valued at more than $55 Billion.

The report also noted that the industry supported more than one million jobs worldwide. The report found that:

• Businesses worldwide are looking to satellites for bridging the digital divide, for providing high-speed access to the Internet, as well

  as for providing telemedicine, radio, television, training and education

  services to consumers and corporate customers. With respect to the Internet, satellites offer cost and speeds comparable to terrestrial alternatives in many cases with higher quality.

• Many space companies including DirecTV, Echostar, Gilat, PanAmSat, Trimble Navigation and Qualcomm, are being considered by mainstream investors as telecommunications or broadband plays. As part of the industry's diversification, these companies have moved beyond the traditional space sector to become service firms that strategically use satellites to reach their target markets.

• Approximately three percent or two and one-half Gigabits of international transport capacity worldwide is used to supply Internet backbone connectivity by satellite. Internet services worldwide use 15 Gigabits of satellite capacity. This includes international, regional and national coverage as well as direct access. This figure is forecast to grow more than four times in the next four years to 60 Gigabits. As the Internet uses local caching as a standard delivery method, the distribution of Internet content to local servers will create an even greater demand for transponder capacity managed by Fixed Satellite Service operators.

• Direct broadcast satellite (DBS) television has become the fastest growing consumer electronics product in history, with more than 35 million people worldwide currently receiving their television service by satellite.

• Digital Audio Radio Service providers who will offer nationwide radio coverage in the U.S. have signed distribution deals with most of the major automobile companies. Expected to launch their service in time for the 2000 holiday season, analysts forecast almost 50 million subscribers by the end of the decade.

• GPS and directional assistance equipment for automobiles has been widely accepted. New requirements by the FCC to include GPS chips in mobile telephones will increase the market and acceptance of this technology.

• Stability in the space industry has spurred many transactions among space hardware suppliers and teleport operators, many of which are looking to expand their capabilities. Some of the players involved in these activities include L-3 Communications, Veridian and ATC Teleports.

satellite manufacturing operation and Honeywell's acquisition of AlliedSignal.

ISBC

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SPACEDAILY

Satellite Launch To Boost DTH In India
Calcutta, India (SPX) Dec 28, 2005
The successful launch Thursday of India's heaviest satellite from spaceport of Kourou in French Guyana may have boosted the country's space research efforts to yet another level, but it has also lifted the spirits of at least three Direct-To-Home televisions broadcasters, one of which has been waiting for years to launch its services in India.