NSR projects $18 billion in advanced satellite coding and modulation equipment sales

NSR has released its newest market intelligence and forecast report: Advanced Satellite Coding and Modulation, 2nd Edition. The report examines market and technology trends for the use of DVB-S2, MPEG-4 and non-standard advanced technology and provides regional implementation schedules for ground-segment equipment used in satellite-delivered applications.

The report concludes that the market for advanced equipment will continue to experience healthy demand driven by application-specific factors under both new system deployments and migration scenarios. NSR projects global shipments of 142 million advanced units for end/receive sites and teleports between 2009 and 2014. Equipment manufacturers are expected to achieve revenues of over $18 billion for the sale of these units that include MPEG-4 DTH set top boxes and Digital Video Recorders (DVR), DVB-S2 modulators and IP receivers, MPEG-4 video encoders, advanced satellite broadband terminals with Adaptive Code Modulation (ACM), SCPC carrier-canceller and LDPC modem options, video edge processors, and integrated receiver-decoders (IRDs).

The study indicates that implementation schedules will be tightly associated with a range of factors that affect deployments on a regional, application and equipment-type basis. Factors facilitating growth include:

• HD-ready households and content availability fostering churn-enhancing HD/DVR adoption in DTH
• use of MPEG-4 compression for standard definition DTH distribution in high-growth markets such as India
• wider manufacturer support for ACM in ASIC chipsets enabling new enhanced satellite broadband systems
• cable digitization benefiting from HITS distribution
• regional high space segment costs together with technology maturation shortening pay-back cycles for SCPC and IP trunking equipment using carrier-overlapping and flexible LDPC coding

"While all studied applications will benefit from the efficiencies introduced by synergetic advanced coding and modulation technologies, industry-wide forecasts are largely influenced by dual replacement and high growth scenarios taking place in the global DTH sector " noted Carlos Placido, Analyst for NSR and author of the report. "The combination of HD leadership in North American and European DTH, HD global expansion and MPEG-4 being used for standard definition in high growth DTH markets, such as India, point to a diversified market for advanced equipment sales that is expected to hold up well in the current economic cycle" stated Placido.

NSR also anticipates strong demand for advanced equipment to support a growing need to implement ACM in satellite broadband, HITS platforms targeting cable digitization and telco-TV, DVB-S2 digital media content distribution and advanced SCPC. ”Although small in comparison to DTH, most multipoint or broadcast delivered satellite applications analyzed will benefit from the use of advanced equipment. Some niche sectors, especially those being capital-intensive, might see a slowdown during the current economic context, but drivers point to a healthy long term business”, added Placido.

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