Telecom Lead America: The commercial communications
satellite market will be worth $52.7 billion from 2012-2021.
High-speed broadband Internet, digital television and video broadcasting, and
government services are currently major areas of growth for the commercial
communications satellite industry, according to Forecast International.
Demand will be especially strong in developing markets
such as Eastern Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, and Asia.
William Ostrove, Forecast International space systems
analyst and author of the study, said that a lack of terrestrial networks and
the rapid growth in demand for communications services in these areas of the
world is driving this demand.
Demand for Broadband Internet by satellite operators is particularly acute in
rural areas, where high-speed Internet demand isn’t high enough to justify the
cost of laying miles of cable. Satellites are also useful for increasing
connectivity for mobile applications.
“Airlines such as United, Southwest, and JetBlue
plan to equip their entire fleets with Wi-Fi in the future. Ka-band satellites
will be a primary supplier of the bandwidth needed to provide in-air broadband
Internet connections,” Ostrove added.
Digital television is another market that is driving satellite service growth.
This is especially true in areas of the world where cable and fiber-optic line
penetration is low, such as Eastern Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
And even where cable providers do exist, such as in Europe, satellite operators
have been successful, providing television to 84 million homes on the
continent.
Governments are employing the services of commercial satellite operators as
well. Rather than purchasing new satellites, governments are turning to
commercial operators, often deploying their communication packages aboard
commercial satellites under a scheme known as hosted payloads.
The top manufacturers in the commercial communications
satellite industry during the next 10 years will be Space Systems/Loral, Thales
Alenia Space, EADS Astrium, Boeing and Lockheed Martin.
