Satellite Industry Continues Growth Streak, Says SIA
The satellite business continued its revenue growth streak in 2010, largely on the back of satellite services, the industry’s largest sector, the Satellite Industry Association said. At the end of Q3 -- the most recent data available -- industry employment had fallen 2.7 percent since the end of 2009, SIA said in its annual study. It was done by Futron Corp. using surveys of 80 companies, 40 of which are SIA members, and publicly available data and research, and is at http://xrl.us/bks9s8.
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"It’s clear that the industry continues to invest and innovate,” SIA President Patricia Cooper said in an interview. It’s important that spectrum policies “reflect that dynamic” and are consistent over the “longer horizon that satellite infrastructure projects require,” she said. The reduction in the space industrial base is a “real concern,” she said. The SIA continues to push for legislative changes to return satellite export control to the executive branch, Cooper said. Satellite exports are controlled under the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, a complex and strict system that many in the satellite industry say hurts their industrial base.
World satellite industry revenue grew 5 percent to $168.1 billion last year, versus 11 percent growth in 2009. From 2005 through 2010, the industry had annual average growth of 11.2 percent, SIA said. Satellite services continued to be the largest segment within the industry, increasing by 9 percent to $101.3 billion and accounting for about 60 percent of industry’s revenue in 2010, according to the report.
The growth in satellite services reflects a satellite industry move toward consumer products, said Cooper. “We saw a much higher percentage of consumer driven services,” mostly in satellite TV, but also satellite radio and satellite broadband, she said. Growth in those services was relatively robust, particularly with the backdrop of a slow global economy, she said. The number of HD channels grew 42 percent in the 52 weeks through May to 3,853 channels. More than 70 percent of those channels serve the Americas, pointing to “significant growth potential” in other regions, the report said. Mobile satellite service revenue grew 5 percent to $2.3 billion in 2010, it said. That growth was propelled by a 10 percent increase in mobile data service revenue, partly offset by a 9 percent decline in mobile voice revenue, the report found.
Satellite manufacturing and the satellite launch industry both saw revenue declines, the report said. Global manufacturing fell 20 percent in 2010 to $10.8 billion, while U.S. manufacturing revenue fell 27 percent to $5.6 billion, the report said. Satellite launch revenue fell 4 percent last year to $1.2 billion, said the report. It’s hard to determine a trend in those sectors, because the sample sizes are so small, said Cooper. A change in one satellite program can have significant effects on numbers for those sectors, she said.