Asia-Pacific Broadcasting (APB) Satellie Special Supplement 2015 | Page 17

Satellite a key delivery platform in Asia-Pacific
Eutelsat scaling up in Asia-Pacific
K
en Loke, CEO of Eutelsat Asia, pro-
vides an insight into the company’s
direction and plans for Asia-Pacific,
as well as the prospects for 4K Ultra HD
globally, including in Asia.
How has Eutelsat’s position in Asia-Pacific
evolved over the past two years?
Ken Loke: Historically focused on Europe,
Eutelsat has progressively grown into a
global company with a fleet of 35 satel-
lites now reaching into Europe, Africa, the
Middle East, Asia and the Americas.
One of the most significant steps we have
taken to expand our footprint was in 2012
when we bought the GE-23 satellite, now
Eutelsat 172A , from General Electric.
Located at the 172°E position, this prime
gateway offers exceptional coverage of
the Asia-Pacific region. This opportunity
has enabled us to scale up our presence
in this rapidly evolving market. Eutelsat
172A coincided with the launch in the same
year of a new satellite called Eutelsat 70B,
which reaches across South-east Asia and
Australia and connects Asia to Europe and
Africa.
In addition to strengthening our in-
frastructure in space, we also opened
an office in Singapore to better serve
our local customers. On the ground, new
partnerships with local players, such as ST
Teleport, one of Asia’s leading full-service
satellite, fibre and IP communications
solutions providers, have also been sealed
to increase our ability to serve customers
in the region.
We are now entering into a new phase
of expansion in the Asia-Pacific with a
bold new satellite programme. Called
Eutelsat 172B, this new triple-mission
satellite will support sustained demand
for capacity for data, fixed and mobile
broadband services as well as video. It
will also host the Pacific Ocean’s first
high throughput payload, which Panasonic
Avionics Corporation has already sel ected
as its key growth platform for trans-Pacific
and Asian in-flight broadband and live TV
services provided to commercial airlines.
To be launched in 2017, this highly effi-
cient asset in the sky will place our 172°E
position front and centre of the rapidly
expanding market for mobile services in
the Pacific Ocean.
Where do you think are the future areas
of growth in Asia-Pacific?
Loke: Our ambitions for the region primari-
ly focus on television, reflecting our leading
activity and our industry-leading expertise.
In Europe, the Middle East and Africa, our
satellites broadcast more than 5,800 TV
channels to over 274 million homes.
In South-east Asia, many fast-growing
countries such as Myanmar, Vietnam, the
Philippines and Indonesia see the world of
television booming. The Asia-Pacific region
has currently more than 840 million TV
homes and is expected to increase by 110
million, reaching close to the billion mark
in 2018. This figure will continue to expand
with the steady increase of digital and HD
channels. The latter trend is set to accel-
erate in these markets, as the penetration
of HD screens increases and expectations
grow for high-quality signals.
Another important market is digital
terrestrial TV (DTT), where Eutelsat has
particularly strong experience. In a number
of markets in Europe and Africa, digital
channels are delivered via Eutelsat to DTT
transmitters for terrestrial re-broadcast-
ing and are also available free-to-air for
homes beyond reach of DTT transmitters.
An example of this experience can be
found with the French platform Fransat,
which has become the point of reference
for France’s transition into a fully digital
broadcasting environment in 2011. In the
broadcasting market, Ultra HD (UHD) is
also an emerging trend.
Can you give us an update on Eutelsat’s
work on developing UHDTV globally, and
specifically in Asia-Pacific?
Loke: UHD’s leap forward in terms of
viewer experience is comparable to the
transition from black and white to colour,
analogue to digital and digital to HD.
Eutelsat is one of the pioneers of this
next state-of-the-art video experience.
We launched Europe’s first demonstra-
tion UHD channel in 2013. In Asia-Pacific,
we set up a UHD demonstration last year
using the Eutelsat 70B satellite during
CommunicAsia2014, which demonstrated
the newest phase of 4K TV development to
Asia’s broadcast community.
Although at an early stage from a com-
mercial perspective, the UHD ecosystem
is rapidly taking shape. 4K cameras are
available in consumer, semi-professional
and professional models. 4K production
equipment is increasingly available and 4K
UHDTV sets are now produced by almost
all major consumer electronics manu-
facturers, as seen in January during the
Consumer Electronics Show 2015 in Las
Vegas. Content production, a critical suc-
cess factor, is also on the rise, driven by
players such as Netflix, who are shooting
flagship series like House of Cards in 4K.
Satellites will be the primary platforms
❝ Satellites will
be the primary
platforms for UHD
delivery, leveraging
their cost-efficiency
for delivering high
throughput
to millions of
users, with low
bandwidth
costs. ❞
— Ken Loke, CEO, Eutelsat Asia
for UHD delivery, leveraging their cost-
efficiency for delivering high throughput
to millions of users, with low-bandwidth
costs. Up to two UHD channels in MPEG-4
using HEVC compression can be carried on
a standard 36MHz transponder.
Eutelsat’s expectation is that pay-TV
platforms will be the first to propose
UHDTV channels to their subscribers.
Following the same path as HD, 4K is
expected to emerge in 2015 in countries
characterised by high purchasing power
with a competitive video market, like the
US, Japan, Korea or Western Europe. In
the Asia-Pacific, Japan is the country of the
“inventors” of UHD. The direct-to-home
(DTH) satellite TV operator Sky Perfect
JSAT Corporation has announced it will
launch two 4K UHD channels on March 1
this year. The dedicated 4K channels will
feature J-League football matches, along
with other sporting events, films and live
concerts. We will watch its launch with
great interest and are ready to support
broadcasters who want to take this next big
step forward in broadcasting.
An
Eutelsat has
progressively
grown into
a global
company
with a
fleet of 35
satellites
now
reaching
into Europe,
Africa, the
Middle East,
Asia and the
Americas.
Supplement
15