Telenor Satellite Broadcasting is preparing proposals for its next satellite, according to the division’s CEO Cato Halsaa.
Despite launching the new Thor 6 satellite at the company’s 1W hotspot, strong demand in the Nordic and Central and Eastern…
Telenor Satellite Broadcasting is preparing proposals for its next satellite, according to the division’s CEO Cato Halsaa.
Despite launching the new Thor 6 satellite at the company’s 1W hotspot, strong demand in the Nordic and Central and Eastern European markets means a new satellite is essential.
“It is clear from the high utilisation at 1W that there is a need for more capacity in the market, so we are actively considering the options for a new satellite,” said Halsaa.
“We are working on a business case for Thor 7 right now and it looks pretty good, so we hope that we will have a new satellite in 2013.”
Financing for Telenor Satellite Broadcasting has not usually been a problem due to the size of the larger Telenor group. However, Halsaa pointed out that Telenor is making major capex commitments to its other global telecoms units, particularly in regards to its mobile business in India.
One way to make financing easier is to partner with other satellite operators, a route TSB took with Thor 6, leasing ten Ku-band transponders to Intelsat. This was part of a long-standing co-operative agreement that saw TBS procure seven Ku-band transponders on the Intelsat 10-02 satellite that also operates at the 1W position.
Halsaa did not rule out a similar kind of deal being put in place for Thor 7. “A partnership could very well be the situation,” he said.
Though Direct to Home television is TBS’ main market, it also operates a strong data communications business, which offers a variety of services including VSAT and broadband.
Halsaa stated that the growth in data communications had been so healthy that TBS is evaluating investment into Ka-band capacity on Thor 7. He stressed that this would only be deployed to enhance the company’s existing services.
“We are going to stick to being a wholesale services provider,” he said. “One thing that should not be a focus for us is consumer broadband. That is a market we will not enter into.”
The main goal for TBS is to eventually migrate all of its data communications services to Ka-band transponders, freeing up more capacity at 1W for television.
Halsaa explained that though the Nordic region does have the remote areas characteristic of consumer broadband markets, they are either already covered by terrestrial networks or are too small to make direct provision of individual broadband services financially viable.
