Russia export controls and sanctions

Consolidation in the wholesale satellite capacity market has made it less competitive than other satellite markets, said Spacenet, in comments to the FCC. The company was responding to the International Bureau’s public notice requesting information for the annual satellite competition report. The wholesale market is “dominated” by Intelsat and SES World Skies, which “now control some 83 percent of the data network services transponders serving the U.S.,” said Spacenet, which buys wholesale capacity from operators. New entrants to the market are unlikely since Intelsat and SES World Skies already control or have rights to 2/3 of the 31 orbital slots able to provide service to the U.S., they said. The agency shouldn’t treat all satellite capacity as “fungible” since a change in satellite providers is a difficult process, requiring major adjustments to terminals and earth stations, Spacenet said.

ITU member governments and companies are behind in tens of millions of dollars in payments for dues, publications, satellite network filings and other fees going back more than a decade, we've learned. Payments for satellite filings by government agencies in Colombia, Russia, Laos and the Philippines are also in arrears, according to a report by the ITU secretary general to an October policy-setting conference. Several U.S. companies are also behind in payments for satellite network filings. In total, more than $500,000 hasn’t been paid by various ITU government and business members for satellite network filings. French intergovernmental agency Eutelsat made hundreds of thousands of dollars in payments this year in an effort to bring its accounts up to date, we've learned. About 70 U.S. companies, including Hewlett-Packard, Motorola and Harris Corp., are behind in dues and other payments totaling millions of dollars. The ITU continues to set funds aside to account for the unpaid fees.

The continued unresponsiveness of Intelsat’s Galaxy 15 satellite, which is sending transponder signals though Intelsat has been unable to control the path of the satellite since April, resulted in a $104 million impairment charge from the satellite’s fair value in Q2, Intelsat said. The satellite isn’t being considered a total loss since recovery is still a possibility, CEO David McGlade said during a Q2 conference call. While it’s still unclear when the company may decide whether the satellite needs to be replaced, “it’s premature to make the decision today,” he said. The satellite will pass by two more Intelsat satellites this month and is expected to lose its earth lock soon after, he said. Intelsat had an 81 percent fill rate at the end of Q2, it said. The company’s revenue for Q2 fell 1 percent to $635.3 million, it said. The decline was largely due to a launch vehicle resale that occurred in Q2 2009, with no similar sale in Q2 this year, it said. Intelsat said it had a net loss of $181 million, compared to a net loss of $33 million in the same quarter last year. Strong transponder contract renewals in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Caribbean regions and business from new satellite capacity drove a 1.1 percent increase to $452 million in transponder service revenue, Intelsat said. Intelsat said it signed a multi-year contract with Sony Pictures for capacity on the IS-17 satellite at 66 degrees east. IS-17 is scheduled to launch this year to provide C- and Ku-band capacity across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Russia and Asia.

Global revenue from mobile value-added-services (VAS) will grow from $200 billion in 2009 to $340 billion by 2014 on strong demand for mobile payments and P2P fund transfers in developing markets, said Informa Telecoms & Media. China, India, Indonesia, South Africa, Nigeria, Egypt, Turkey, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Russia, Poland and the Ukraine will account for 36 percent of VAS global revenue by 2014, said Informa. Mobile operators and service providers in emerging markets tend to be more innovative and proactive than their developed world counterparts, Informa said. It defines value-added services as all mobile services other than voice calls.

A U.N. group of governmental experts appears to have reached agreement on a report on cyberwar and critical network protection, we've learned, with the report expected to be released Friday. In documents submitted to the group, countries were at odds over what was needed to protect critical networks and stem cyberthreats (CD Nov 23/09 p8). A similar group several years ago failed to agree on a report largely because of U.S. objections. In April 2008, the former and current chairman of the group said Russia wanted a cyberspace code of conduct, not a “strict treaty” (CD April 28/08 p10). Department of State officials have not responded to repeated requests for information on the meetings, nor have they fulfilled January 2009 Freedom of Information Act requests. The new report will be forwarded to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon for consideration. Ban’s spokesman did not immediately respond to e-mail and telephone inquiries. Group Chairman Andrey Krutskikh of the Russian Federation agreed three times to interviews with Communications Daily but canceled each time.

Facebook is finding success recruiting users overseas by working with wireless carriers, said Eric Tseng, the company’s head of mobile products. Facebook has more than 150 million mobile users worldwide, he said. “Partnering with carriers in any geography certainly helps with distribution and getting our messaging out,” he said Tuesday at the MobileBeat conference in San Francisco. Handsets have given Facebook access to users without PCs, he said. Mobile phone use is high in many countries where Facebook has carrier partnerships, such as India and Russia, but not all subscribers have data plans, Tseng said. So the company is working with some carriers on promotions to give users access at no charge to Facebook’s mobile website, he said. In the U.S., social networking will soon play a role in how smartphone users find and download new applications for their devices, Tseng said. “As we get more apps that’s great, but the normal user is not going to go through hundreds of thousands of apps on their phone,” he said. “There is a need for people to have the relevant content … filtered to the top. I think that social context is going to help.” Each app store eventually will have a social network “baked in,” Tseng said. “If they want to use Facebook, that’s great. But it’s really their own call.” The company has no plans to put ads on its mobile site yet, he said: For now, it’s still trying to attract users. “We're not particularly anxious to get ads rolled out on Facebook Mobile,” Tseng said. “Similar to a lot of companies that are at this stage, we're all about growth.” He said when Facebook wants to introduce ads, that will be simple.

IPTV is growing strongly, with 2.6 million new subscribers added worldwide in Q1, U.K. analyst Point Topic said. The service now accounts for 7.7 percent of total broadband lines, it said. Western Europe is still the key IPTV region, with more than 16 million subscribers on March 31, over half in France alone, it said. The U.S. is the second-biggest market, led by Verizon and AT&T, the analyst said. China added 630,000 new subscribers in the first quarter of this year and is the strongest IPTV performer, it said. There’s a huge gap between leaders France, the U.S. and China and the rest of the world in terms of quarterly growth rates, it said. The top IPTV operators are China Telecom, Free, Verizon, Orange-France, AT&T, SFR (France), Korea Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, NTT Communications and PCCW, Point Topic said. The statistics show “the potential is there,” especially if the offer and price are right, it said. The number of broadband subscribers globally is also rising. There were nearly 485 million subscribers as of March 31, up 3.2 percent from the previous quarter, it said. DSL is still the most popular broadband technology, with around 312 million lines, followed by cable, with around 98 million lines, and fiber, at over 62 million lines, it said. China continues to have the largest DSL market, with the U.S. second, it said. North America leads in cable users, followed by Western Europe, it said. Fiber is most popular in Asia, with Asia Pacific and East Asia controlling nearly 83 percent of the global market, Point Topic said. China has the largest fiber market in the world, it said. The top ten countries in total broadband subscribers in Q1 were China, the U.S., Germany, India, Mexico, Brazil, Russia, the U.K., Spain and France, it said.

Arianespace said it will launch Intelsat’s IS-17 satellite on an Ariane 5. The launcher is scheduled to lift the satellite to transfer orbit at the end of the year from the European Space Port in French Guiana. The satellite will provide C- and Ku-band service to Europe, the Middle East, Russia and Asia from 66 degrees east.

High-ranking U.S. officials are in Moscow for bilateral talks with the Russian Ministry of Communications and to attend the Russia Information and Communication Technology Roundtable, the State Department said Monday in a news release. The trip’s aim is “beginning a dialogue on a range of topics including broadband, internet governance, cybersecurity, spectrum management, the analog to digital TV transition” and coordinating positions for upcoming ITU conferences, it said. Philip Verveer, U.S. coordinator for international communications and information policy led FCC Commissioner Michael Copps, NTIA Administrator Larry Strickling and other officials at the meetings. It was the first U.S.-Russia ICT roundtable of talks since 2004. The delegation will also meet through Friday with industry representatives and participate in the first Russian Internet Governance Forum and the U.S. Russia Business Council’s first Strategic Infrastructure Forum.

GENEVA -- Several major countries raised concerns during a council meeting last week with ITU’s efforts to spur telecom equipment interoperability with a conformance database, interoperability testing and other measures. Developing countries were largely supportive of the intergovernmental organization’s efforts, but commercial worries weren’t directly addressed. The ITU initiatives were prompted by a 2008 resolution agreed to by almost 100 countries (CD Oct 31/08 p10).