WTA: Satellite operators show commercial & operational gains
May 21, 2018
The World Teleport Association (WTA) has released Satellite Operator Benchmarks 2018, the eighth report in its series that tracks, rates and compares the operational and commercial performance of satellite operators, as experienced by teleport operators, in order to strengthen the industry by driving self-improvement across all companies. Research for the report was conducted by Futuresource, which provides market research, analytics, forecasts to industry.
The 2018 survey reports on eight global and regional satellite operators: Arabsat, AsiaSat, Eutelsat, Hispasat, Intelsat, Measat, SES and Telesat. Among key findings was a general reduction in satellite capacity purchases and even larger decrease in spending, reflecting continued price erosion for GEO services. Overall teleport operators rated the commercial performance of satellite operators 4 per cent better and their operational performance 2 per cent better than the previous year, and 14 per cent better in both categories since 2014.
The Benchmarks study got its start from concerns among teleport operators about direct competition from their satellite vendors for managed service business. In 2018, satellite operators varied in the degree of direct competition, according to respondents. Five of eight were cited by 50 per cent or more of teleport operators as direct competitors. Respondents saw less competitive threat, however, from regional operators in 2018 than in the past but saw a pattern of rising competitive threat from the global operators.
“Over the past five years, the satellite operators covered by the Benchmarks reports have made double-digit gains in their commercial and operational performance, as viewed by teleport operators,” said WTA executive director and report author Robert Bell. “That was what we hoped to accomplish when we launched the Benchmarks project in 2011, and it is gratifying to see our satellite operator partners responding to the data we provide.”