APB Satellite Interview With NewSat CTO David Ball

David Ball, the CTO of Australia's independent satellite operator, talks with APB Satellite about the company's ambitious Jabiru Satellite Fleet program and the present state of the satellite industry. Mr. Ball considers the company's deal with Cyprus as one of its milestone achievements over the past decade. Last year, AP Kypros Satellites Limited (KyproSat) and the Cypriot government granted NewSat the rights over seven premium orbital satellite slots. Asia-Pacific is one of the target market areas of NewSat, and a number of orbital slots have been secured to serve the region.

 The mobile satellite service market offers great growth opportunities for carriers. Mr Ball said Newsat has steerable antennas and Ka band solutions for this promising market niche. Mr. Ball is also optimistic of the prospects of content distribution.

He expects content distribution over satellite to grow further given its edge over point-to-point terrestrial distribution. The rapid deployment of fiber networks and the growing pressure on government to bridge the digital divide is also driving the growth of the industry. According to Mr Ball, satellite will be needed to bridge urban and rural areas given the limitations of fiber-optic networks, notably cost constraints.
Africa offers potential business impetus given the recent fiber-optic network projects in the region. But the limited availability of satellite spectrum remains a big challenge for the whole industry. "I think the biggest issue we have to watch for is spectrum," said Ball. He urged industry advocates to push through with their lobbying efforts to counter spectrum restrictions.

Complicated buying process is another area of concern, and Mr Ball suggests that vendors make it easier for end-users to choose SATCOM solutions over terrestrial services. Lockheed Martin started building Jabiru -1 last year. It will be the first satellite to be operated by NewSat on its own. It will have three separate payloads. The satellite will boast of a trunking payload linking Adelaide, Perth and Cyprus into South Asia, East Africa and the Middle East, with more than 20 multi-spot beam pattern that will extend coverage outside the areas. The spot beams are steerable so they can cover larger areas of Earth.

The choice of contractors reflected how significant the Jabiru fleet is to both the company and Australia. NewSat signed Lockheed Martin and Arianespace, the world's two leading companies in space communications and satellite launch industries, to work on Jabiru-1. Market trends point to a more robust satellite sector, especially the advances in VSAT ground technology, improved ACM coding technologies and falling prices of remote terminals, which means more rural residents and establishments can now afford satellite-based communications. .