Use of Satellite Triple Play Services in Emerging Countries

Objectives

Companies willing to offer low-cost satellite services in emerging countries have to understand the specific market demand and user needs. They also need to access related regulatory issues and identify local value chains as well as available financial support through institutional programs.


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For that purpose, an in-depth market, regulatory, business and technical analysis has been made, focusing on a limited number of key emerging countries. The deployment process of Satellite Triple Play Services has been described and a business case for the key actors of the value-chain will be elaborated.

Challenges

Local VSAT Service Providers and regulatory authorities in target countries have been interviewed and provided key inputs to the survey.

Benefits

Recommendations have been made regarding:

  • The implementation process to be followed by companies willing to pursue business opportunities in developing countries.
  • The roadmap that ESA could follow to support European and Canadian industries willing to further develop Satellite Triple Play technology.
Features

Satellite Triple Play Services provides 3 different categories of services to the consumer and Soho markets:

  • Internet access service (Single-Play),
  • Internet access together with VoIP telephony (Double-Play),
  • Internet access together with VoIP and DTH television reception (Triple-Play).

The services are offered at low cost, comparable to terrestrial services.

Plan

The project was initiated in October 2008 and was completed in August 2009.


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Current status

The project was initiated in October 2008 and results were presented at the end of August 2009.

Selection of countries
5 countries have been selected among the main emerging countries from Africa, Asia and Pacific region, Eastern Europe and Middle East and Latin America and the Caribbean:

  • 4 countries in Africa: Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast,
  • 1 country in Latin America: Venezuela.

The final selection of the countries has been made with the support of Newtec and more specifically Juch-Tech, a company with a thorough experience in offering satellite services in the chosen regions.

Regulatory analysis
A detailed regulatory analysis has been performed for the 5 countries, based on the study of the legal texts, interviews with the local regulatory authorities as well as with the support of Juch-Tech local service providers.

Market and Service assessment
The market analysis carried out for each country has provided an insight on the commercial and institutional markets, competition, and forecasted S3P services penetration after the most promising services and applications were characterized. Again, this has been performed with the support of Juch-Tech local service providers.

Service implementation definition
Since no concrete institutional project supporting the deployment of satellite service in the 5 selected countries have been identified, 2 commercial scenarios have been elaborated:

  • 1 scenario for West Africa, covering the 4 countries studied in that region: Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon and Ivory Coast;
  • 1 scenario for Venezuela.

The scenario analysis covers a commercial, technical and implementation scenarios and a financial assessment for each of the 2 regions.

Recommendations
As a conclusion, a list of recommendations have been made regarding the S3P roadmap, that ESA could follow to support European and Canadian industries willing to develop S3P technology.