![\"\"](\"\/Assets\/Image\/SatAssoc_Opener.jpg\")
Satellite associations aim to protect the industry\u2019s interests, but which battles are they prioritizing? Across different regions of the world, associations are looking at ways in which they promote satellite solutions and make sure satellite still plays a key role despite the proliferation of other communications technologies.<\/h2>\nSatellite associations have evolved dramatically in recent years \u2014 becoming increasingly vocal and visible in the public policy arena, driven, in large part, by the explosive growth of the cellular industry. Faced with global issues such as satellite interference, signal piracy and the need to respond to the scramble for more spectrum to fuel broadband demand, more and more satellite-industry associations are finding strength in numbers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are finding that there are more issues where we have common interests,\u201d says Patricia Cooper, president of the U.S.-based Satellite Industry Association (SIA), which provides a unified voice of the U.S. satellite industry on policy, regulatory and legislative issues affecting the satellite manufacturing, launch and services business.<\/p>\n
Much of Cooper\u2019s time is spent educating policy officials in Washington on the industry and why satellite is an important piece of the communications policy puzzle. She also advocates for policies that reflect the concerns of the satellite industry. In her four years at the helm of SIA, Cooper has seen more exchanges of information among satellite and space associations, and an increasing support between groups for specific advocacy work.<\/p>\n
The most dramatic example of these collaborative efforts came in December, when virtually the entire global satellite community voiced their opposition to a proposed new global space financing protocol known as UNIDROIT. According to Cooper, an unprecedented 100 satellite stakeholders, from satellite manufacturing, operators, banking and insurance sectors, publicly opposed the protocol. Unfortunately, the UNIDROIT organization adopted the protocol in early March, despite the concerns of industry and several member governments, including the United States.<\/p>\n
One of six satellite industry associations to denounce the program was Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA). Simon Twiston-Davies, CEO, CASBAA, says the legislation\u2019s passage without any barriers imposed to it \u201cwill have a huge impact on the private financing of the satellite sector. It\u2019s very dangerous for the financing of our industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
The European Satellite Operators Association (ESOA), which represents the interests of Europe\u2019s 10 major satellite operators, was also vocal on the UNIDROIT issue and other issues that reflect the common interest of the industry. One of its top three priorities this year is preserving a neutral financial environment in which satellite operators can function.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe challenges faced by the sector are often also common in other parts of the world; therefore, cooperation with other associations is essential,\u201d says Aarti Holla-Maini, secretary general for ESOA.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Many industry association leaders build awareness with policymakers on satellite\u2019s critical communications role. Unlike other technology sectors, satellite crosses over several communications areas, including wireless service, broadcast communications, public safety and military support, yet there is a lack of familiarity with how the industry operates. \u201cWe cover a broad waterfront; our industry has to support an extraordinary range of services and users,\u201d says Cooper. \u201cAs we are much smaller voices compared with our terrestrial counterparts, we suffer from either no image or (being viewed as) outdated. This is at stark odds with the role we play,\u201d adds Holla-Maini, whose top objective in 2012 is ensuring a level playing field for European satellite services given the major public investments into terrestrial solutions.<\/p>\n
Another group, MSUA, founded in 1992 as the Inmarsat Users Association, serves the interests of all mobile satellite operators. MSUA is fighting to keep MSS bands from being passed to terrestrial services. Tim Farrar, MSUA\u2019s president, says a key battle in his industry is the FCC\u2019s anticipated rulemaking on the reallocation of the 2 GHz MSS band.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the next year it\u2019s going to be a big issue for us because there are a lot of people setting their sights on targeting MSS spectrum for re-allocation to terrestrial,\u201d says Farrar, who is worried that the FCC action could signify that \u201cwe\u2019re on a slippery slope of more of the MSS bands coming under threat.\u201d<\/p>\n
MSUA has collaborated with both SIA and the Global VSAT Forum (GVF) on regulatory submissions to defend MSS spectrum, and to seek a workable model for spectrum sharing. \u201cBoth organizations have been really helpful in getting our point across domestically and internationally,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Farrar notes that one issue driving associations is the industry consolidation from mergers and acquisitions, which affects membership numbers. Another driver changing the composition and focus of his association involves the fact that the MSS market no longer involves a few defined frequency bands from players such as Inmarsat, Iridium, GlobalStar and Thuraya.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe now have to consider more widely the broadband arena and the interaction with terrestrial.\u201d For this reason, Farrar is focusing this year on increasing outreach to entities involved in other frequency bands for mobility services such as VSAT terminal provider, KVH, which recently joined MSUA.<\/p>\n
In the past year, SIA has worked diligently to give policymakers a better understanding of how satellite services fit as a piece of the broadband solution and how existing and planned services could be affected if spectrum planning isn\u2019t \u201cmindful.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper says that while her group has been successful at raising awareness with respect to satellite\u2019s role in spectrum, \u201cthe challenge continues and policymakers continue to shift.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cCollaboration is essential,\u201d adds Twiston-Davies of Hong Kong-based CASBAA, an association that represents the interests of major broadcasters and some 3 billion satellite customers in Asia. About a third of CASBAA\u2019s members come directly from the satellite sector.<\/p>\n
His group is focused on several key issues for the satellite sector including signal theft, which costs the industry in Asia about $2 billion annually in measurable lost revenues. Thieves distribute legitimate signals in an unauthorized fashion and also misrepresent how many subscribers they actually have \u2014 cable operators even pirate entire bouquets. Unauthorized set-top boxes (IRDs and cable boxes) can be found in most Asian markets, overspill signals undermine the business model all too often and regulators have only a hazy awareness of intellectual property rights of all kinds.<\/p>\n
CASBAA\u2019s priority this year is to protect C-band spectrum, which the company and its 130 Asia Pacific broadcasters, platforms and satellite operators consider a significant industry challenge and an issue that garners support across the satellite community, including from other associations.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Satellite interference is another high-profile industry issue that associations are embracing. It will take center stage this summer with the Olympics in London. Satellite operators have committed that all broadcasters will employ Carrier ID, a solution that that could eliminate up to 80 percent of all interference.<\/p>\n
The two most vocal associations in this effort are the GVF and the reorganized Satellite Interference Reduction Group (sIRG) \u2014 groups credited with introducing a new global industry standard to train and certify installers worldwide, and with launching numerous working groups to develop solutions such as Carrier ID.<\/p>\n
Martin Coleman became executive director of SIRG a year ago this past February, and he has moved swiftly to breathe new life into the group, first by relocating the association headquarters from Florida to the Isle of Man. In the last year, Coleman has traveled the globe, talking to manufacturers and breaking down barriers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe brought SIRG into the 21st century and opened up our association,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s amazing when you engage people, how much passion is out there. We needed to set goals and get some practical things done \u2014 the best way we can help is to bring solutions to the table.\u201d SIRG now is positioned as a leading technical group and resource to other associations seeking industry-wide engineering solutions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The need to better manage the physical space where satellites operate to avoid collisions prompted the creation of another group, the Space Data Association (SDA). Founded by satellite operators, it began operations in 2010 as the first collaborative effort to share data among competing satellite operators to make space operations safer and more reliable.<\/p>\n
Originally focused on avoiding satellite collisions, SDA currently provides Conjunction Assessment processing for more than 340 GEO and LEO satellites, more than 65 percent of all operational satellites in geosynchronous Earth orbit (GEO) and including more than 200 member satellites. Key goals this year include getting more reliable satellite position data on the 30 percent of orbiting satellites, which are not part of SDA, and improving its knowledge of the location of space debris.<\/p>\n
Today, the U.S. Joint Space Operations Center (JSpOC) tracks objects in space, but has been criticized by industry for not always providing the most accurate spacecraft-conjunction advisories. Stewart Sanders, SDA\u2019s chairman and director, points out that JSpOC has limitations in terms of accurately pinpointing a satellite position since it doesn\u2019t continually make those measurements. \u201cThe JSpOC has developed a set of capabilities, but they\u2019re not really geared towards what the commercial satellite industry needs. The only people who know where a satellite is are the people who control it,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
SDA\u2019s new space data center shares data among satellite operators, and can process position location in nearly real time. The only time an operator is contacted is if there is an issue so it takes the workload off the operators.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best part is the motivation of operators to work with the vendor community and alongside customers,\u201d says Sanders. \u201cWe go to meetings now and there is no division between customers, operators and vendors. Everyone is airing their views and presenting potential solutions.\u201d<\/p>\n
SDA is also seeking more collaboration with government entities on issues of mutual interest. \u201cWe want a more collaborative relationship with government entities. There is a recognition that we\u2019re all in this together,\u201d Sanders adds.<\/p>\n
SIA has made significant inroads reaching out to government entities and providing a platform for commercial satellite players and government decision makers to share capabilities in a classified setting and explore how service providers, ground equipment manufacturers, satellite builders and operators can contribute to the provision of services to the warfighter and ensure safe operations in space.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m personally proud of how we\u2019ve advanced those discussions between industry and government,\u201d concludes Cooper, who admits there\u2019s still more to do as the military grapples with how to manage significant budget cuts and still deliver the services warfighters need and ensure that there are safe and reliable space operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Satellite associations aim to protect the industry\u2019s interests, but which battles are they prioritizing? Across different regions of the world, associations are looking at ways in which they promote satellite solutions and make sure satellite still plays a key role despite the proliferation of other communications technologies. Satellite associations have evolved dramatically in recent years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-83176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83176"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83176"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83176\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}