The shortage of brandwith is an issue of great concern, and the demand for satellite transponders is continuing to grow.

The oncoming buzz of HD is music to the ears of consumers, with new and improved services in terms of viewing experience. However, this is also a cause of great concern for those who are upgrading to HD, because this will create a flood of data with unprecedented data capacity requirements.

The shortage of bandwidth is a great issue of concern. GSAT 11, scheduled for launch in 2012, will carry 40 transponders in the Ku-band and Ka band frequencies, which are 3-6 times more powerful than those used in existing Indian communication satellites. Meanwhile, all eyes are set on the ISRO's initiative for additional transponders. Planned between October 2010 and March 2012, 150 transponders (42 in Ku-band and 48 each in C and extended-C-band) will be added to the active workforce. The anticipated pivotal point for the market in 2011 shall be the determination of the 200 pending licenses with the MIB. This decision could decide the course of events and be the cause of either tribulations or growth in the coming year.

Sales of satellite transponders in the worldwide broadcasting application market are expected to rise by 442 units by 2012, despite being challenged by the rapid advancements in compression technology.

In the Asia-Pacific market, the demand for satellite transponders for reserve purposes is projected to reach 358 units by the year 2012. The operators are replacing satellites that are reaching their end-of-life and are ordering larger and more powerful satellites to keep up with the demand for advanced services, such as high definition television.

The growth of satellite demand in the Asia-Pacific region is also driven by the economics of point-to-multipoint distribution, as well as the need for services in areas where it is not practical to build terrestrial infrastructure.

There is a noticeable growth in the broadcasting sector in terms of the number of new channels being introduced by local or foreign TV operators to the region, with India having crossed the 550-channel mark, including 249 news channels. Combined with this is the growth of distribution platforms like DTH, IPTV, HITS, and mobile TV and HD channels.

There has been a mushrooming of DTH operators in the country. The seven main players in the field in India are DD Direct Plus, Tata Sky, Airtel Digital TV, Reliance Big TV, Sun Direct, Dish TV, and Videocon D2H. With so many players in the field, the need for more bandwidth space is increasing drastically. Assuming that every player requires ten transponders to service their territories, there is a minimum requirement of 70 transponders. This highlights the major difference in the demand and the supply.

The six private DTH operators are occupying 44 Ku-band transponders. In addition, Doordarshan has six transponders for its DD Direct DTH service. Such resources could be easily utilized by allowing DTH operators to provide signals directly to MSOs and cable operators. This will enable the country to digitalize the distribution of TV signals without consuming more satellite bandwidth for HITS operations.

With the severe shortage of broadcasting space in the national hemisphere from the ISRO, operators are waiting for leased territory on foreign satellites by the ISRO. This is not a comfortable option, as it will incur heavy expenses on the part of the operators paying rentals. However, the growing concern in the minds of broadcasters is first, getting the lease sanctioned, and second, fair distribution to all six providers. The ISRO is in discussions for further agreements to lease bandwidth space on two satellites, ProtoStar II and AsiaSat 5, for the Indian broadcasting sector.

Increased efficiencies are being achieved by migrating video broadcasting from analog to digital signals, allowing more content to be broadcast per transponder. On one hand, the available transponder space will be better utilized by the usage of better technology; while on the other hand more transponder space will be required by emerging HDTV channels, and for the conversion of SDTV channels into HDTV channels. 

Providing a unique advantage as a communications platform, satellites today are used for a range of essential communication, commerce, and entertainment services. This includes the provision of television services, which today has become a multi-billion dollar industry across the region. India is a relatively matured satellite market, with its own domestic satellite operator - the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and other foreign satellite operators providing geostationary satellite services with over 200 transponders at present. These satellites provide Ku-band capacity for DTH and VSAT services, and C-band for the broadcasting of channels and more recently for HITS (Headend In the Sky).

The demand for Ku and C-Band in India has grown tremendously in recent times due to the following reasons:

• Seven DTH platforms have emerged in India during the last five years
• Increases in channel offerings by the existing TV networks
• New channel entrants
• Increases in VSAT traffic
• Launch of the HITS policy.

Satellites and their different scopes in India

The ISRO has successfully operated two satellite systems, namely IRS (Indian Remote Sensing) and INSAT (the Indian National Satellite Systems). INSAT is one of the largest domestic communications satellite systems in the Asia-Pacific region. Established in 1983, it has initiated a major revolution in India's communication and broadcasting sectors. INSAT is presently operating 11 satellites, and planning to launch more in the near future to either expand and/or replace its existing fleet.

Even with over 50 Ku-band transponders available with the seven DTH operators in India, the supply and demand gap is still huge, with each DTH operator putting more than 200 channels on each platform. A number of satellite operators will be launching and expanding their existing fleets to meet this huge demand from DTH customers. Upcoming satellites such as INSAT 4G, INSAT 5P and MEASAT-3b will soon be hovering over India's skies.

With 100 channels waiting for launch in the next 2-3 years, there is a huge potential for both Indian and foreign satellite operators to serve the C-band video distribution in India. Demand for transponders will also be driven by the following market segments:

• HITS (Headend in the sky). Large numbers of transponders will be required for the newly delivered platform of HITS.
• Mushrooming of new teleports. As of 2009, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has licensed 62 teleports in the country. There will also be a major C-band requirement from the new and existing teleports providing playout, MCPC, and SCPC services to the existing and new broadcasters.
• Launch of high definition (HD) channels. The government-owned broadcaster, Doordarshan, has recently broadcasted the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in high definition (HD) format. With the falling prices of LCD TVs and set-top boxes in India, HD-ready boxes are becoming affordable for consumers and pay-TV operators. HD rollout is gaining traction in India, and we currently have channels like NGC HD, Discovery World HD, Star Plus HD, Zee TV HD, and two other regional HD channels in Tamil; and many more are expected. DTH operators like SUN Direct, Tata Sky, Dish TV and Reliance BIG TV are heavily promoting their HD services in India.

MEASAT's contribution to the Indian satellite market

MEASAT is a regional satellite operator, providing satellite solutions across 145 countries throughout the Asia Pacific region, the Middle East, Europe, and Australia. Currently, MEASAT has a fleet of four spacecrafts operating from a state-of-the-art facility–MEASAT Teleport and Broadcast Center, situated in Cyberjaya, Malaysia. MEASAT was named the Regional Satellite Operator in the year 2008 during the Excellence in Satellite Management Awards at the 12th World Summit for satellite financing in Paris. MEASAT has played a key role in providing (Ku-band) satellite capacity on its existing satellite fleet (MEASAT-3 and MEASAT-3a) at 91.5ºE in collaboration with Antrix/ISRO in India. MEASAT, through Antrix/ISRO, is providing capacity to two key DTH platforms in India (Reliance BIG TV and SUN Direct) and has also leased C-band capacity to Antrix for its data customers.

Conclusion

There will be a major demand for satellite bandwidth with the introduction of HD channels, the HITS platform, existing DTH channel expansion plans, new channel launches, and VSAT services. The satellite resources, including the spectrum for both uplinking and downlinking in both C and Ku-band, are very much in demand for TV channels, as well as other delivery platforms like DTH and HITS. At present the Department of Space (DOS) has a demand of 200-plus transponders, both for Ku and C-band. In order to meet this demand, they have planned satellite launches within the next few years, and will also be hiring capacities from foreign satellite operators. Despite these planned new satellite launches, demand for Ku-band transponders for DTH services will still remain constrained for years to come.