Main applications in the field of telecommunication - Threats and opportunities in broadband communications
From INVESaTWIKI
Main applications in the field of telecommunication - Threats and opportunities in broadband communications
Given their capabilities, broadband satellite systems are best positioned to offer the services addressing four primary markets.
- Wholesale carrier services, providing high-capacity, worldwide carriage of communications traffic over long distances. This service is generally purchased by telecommunications carriers to establish global connectivity and provide redundancy for existing networks.
- Global corporate networking, providing both raw carriage and value-added services supporting data, voice and video communications for multinational corporations. In particular, these users will need “bandwidth on demand” to provide multimedia service to specific locations on an “as-needed” basis (Cable, 1998).
- Public service institutions, providing high-bandwidth services to support public services distributed to large constituencies, such as education, health care, and welfare assistance.
- Broadband local loop, providing high-speed data and other services (especially Internet access) direct to homes and offices.
In each of these markets, satellite carriers must face
potential competitors. In global wholesale service, Project
Oxygen promises to deliver the same services as
satellites using a global fiber optic network. In corporate
services, satellite systems must compete with alliances
among established players in the telecom market, such
as the partnership between AT&T and British Telecom.
In the broadband local loop market, one serious problem
is that the potential competitors — mostly wireline carriers
— are also the primary customers of the satellite
industry’s wholesale services. Some potential marketbased
threats facing these systems include:
Elasticity of demand. The broadband satellite industry’s
growth is heavily reliant on very optimistic forecasts
of demand for bandwidth across the world. While
current growth rates for Internet usage seem to support
these forecasts, the reality could be quite different. Also,
it is not clear what prices users are willing to pay for
broadband data access, which could also limit the
viability of many systems.
Competing technologies. There are several alternate
technologies for providing broadband data service,
including wireline technologies (cable TV data systems,
digital subscriber line, fiber-to-the-home) and wireless
technologies (fixed microwave, wireless cable, third-generation
mobile telephony, and emerging wideband
services). Depending on the cost and availability of the
infrastructure for these technologies, the competition
facing broadband satellite services could be very fierce
in particular markets.
Interconnection. To provide wholesale services, and
also to satisfy the preferences of some end-users, satellite
networks must interconnect with terrestrial communication
networks. The terrestrial carriers could tie
interconnection agreements to other demands which
could limit the ability of satellite systems to compete;
for example, making interconnection contingent upon
the agreement of the satellite operator to grant the landline
carrier an exclusive distribution agreement in a
particular market.
Standardization. Delivery of specific interactive
multimedia applications requires that the carrier support
the various standards used to construct those applications
(Price, 1999). At a minimum, all carriers now must offer
IP service to be serious contenders in broadband communications.
But more sophisticated applications, such
as virtual reality, will be based upon a dazzling array of
standards covering quality of service, compression, data
formats, and transmission protocols. In addition, industry
groups are developing their own standards. For example,
the US automotive industry has created the Automotive
Network Exchange (ANX), which now certifies which
carriers provide IP services which meet the needs of the
industry. ANX is being extended to include European
and Japanese manufacturers. Other global industry-specific
standards are emerging in chemicals, logistics, and
electronics. Satellite providers will need to track all of
these standards developments and ensure that they can
in fact support the emerging dominant standards, or they
will be shut out of important end-user markets. [1]
References
[1] E.G.Carayannis, J.Alexander
"Virtual, wireless mannah: a co-opetitive analysis of the broadband satellite industry".
