Arianespace will launch at least seven satellites, including four from Australia, and one each from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Japan, from the Asia-Pacific region in the next two years, Stephane Israel, chairman & CEO of Arianespace, says.

"There are many projects in Asia-Pacific due to increased demand for broadcast and outbound communications. We are also working on some projects in Japan, Indonesia and Mongolia," he says, adding that Arianespace will go to Mongolia, which is considering Telican satellites for both commercial and industrial support, at the end of October.

In Hong Kong, there is a second company operating satellites - Asia Satellite Telecommunications - more commonly called AsiaSat. With six satellites in orbit - AsiaSat 1, 2, 3S, 4, 5 and 7, it plans to launch AsiaSat 6 and 8 in 2014 to add capacity in cyberspace.

AsiaSat is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Ltd, a company listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. AsiaSat's two major shareholders are CITIC Ltd and General Electric Company (GE).

In-flight phone communications

Satellites also provide in-flight phone communications on airplanes, and are often the main conduit of voice communication for rural areas and places where phone lines are damaged after a disaster, Arianespace Managing Director Richard Bowles says, pointing out that satellites also provide the primary timing source for cell phones and pagers.

Satellite-based navigation systems like the Navstar Global Positioning Systems (known colloquially as GPS) enable anyone with a handheld receiver to determine her location to within a few meters. GPS locators are increasingly included in in-car direction services and allow car-share services like Zipcar to locate their cars.

Communications satellites have the ability to rapidly communicate between a number of widely dispersed locations. This is an important tool, allowing big manufacturing companies and department stores to perform inventory management, provide instant credit card authorization and automated teller banking services to even small towns, pay-at-the-pump at freeway gas stations, and video-conferencing for international corporations.

Satellites also provide meteorologists with the ability to see and better predict the weather on a global scale, allowing them to follow the effects of phenomena like volcanic eruptions and burning gas and oil fields, to the development of large systems like hurricanes and El Nio.

The world of communications via broadband and pay-TV, including Hong Kong, is changing as more and more innovation comes into the market.

(HK Edition 10/18/2013 page6)