|
For your interest, here are a
few statistics and figures about the VSAT market. All figures are to
June 1003:
| Enterprise Star Data Systems |
|
| Total Number of VSAT Terminals
Ordered |
778,408 |
| Total Number of VSATs Shipped |
693,941 |
| Total Number of Sites in Service |
478,395 |
| Market 3 Year CAGR |
12.5% |
| Number of Contracts
Listed in the COMSYS Database |
6,579 |
| Number of VSAT Operators Tracked
by COMSYS |
Over 220 |
|
| DAMA Systems |
|
| Total Number of Mesh/DAMA
Terminals Ordered |
115,002 |
| Total Number of Channel Units
Ordered |
300,945 |
| Market 3 Year CAGR (Sites) |
10.9% |
| Number of Contracts Listed in the
COMSYS Database |
2,760 |
|
| There are now a great variety of different
star and mesh TDMA and DAMA systems from many vendors - The VSAT Report
lists over 40 different products - but historically, the star data
market has been divided between Hughes Network Systems (with its ISBN/PES
and now DirecWay systems), Gilat Satellite Networks (with its Skystar
Advantage and 360E products), ViaSat (with the LinkStar system and its
old discontinued SkyRelay product both acquired with the acquisition of
Comsat Labs and Scientific-Atlanta's satcoms businesses respectively)
and NEC (with its now discontinued Nextar product line). More recently,
we have also seen the advent of the standards-based DVB-RCS systems.
The figure below shows the historical market share measured by the
number of terminals shipped up to December 2002: |
 |
| The regional market for VSAT systems is
dominated by North America, but the other regions have been catching up
since 1988. Over the past two to three years Africa and the Middle East
in particular have grown very strongly on the back of a high level of
demand for broadband access services from small businesses in the two
regions. Generally elsewhere, demand is primarily driven from
large networks provided to large gas/convenience chains, automotive
dealerships, retailers, casual dining and lottery systems. |
 |
| The market was initially extremely
volatile, with sales swinging wildly from year to year as a result of
lumpiness caused by large, yet unpredictable network orders.
However, since 1995 sales have grown steadier with greater volumes and a
more mature sales cycle. To date almost 780,000 star TDMA sites
have been sold to core enterprise customers, such as Ford, Mobil/Exxon,
the US Postal Service, Rite Aid, WalMart, Best Western and Safeway (see
the user examples for
more information). 2001 saw the initial growth of consumer
internet access service, confined primarily to the US, whilst
internationally it has been broadband access to the SME which has
provided the strongest area of new demand. |
 |
Cumulative market growth has been steady at
approximately 13 per cent on the basis of a three year rolling compound
annual growth rate (CAGR). Year to year, sales growth rates have
been more volatile. In most industries you would expect to see a
sharper drop, but with added features, greater flexibility and lower
costs, VSAT systems have maintained their attractiveness as a platform
in the corporate networking market. In fact, there are some very good
reasons to expect increased growth over the next few years as high
volumes driven from consumer and SME broadband access services
work their way into the enterprise business. In addition, new
broadband spacecraft are now within sight, opening new markets and even
raising the prospect of satellite services competing directly with the
terrestrial providers.
|
 |
|
www.comsys.co.uk