Shin Sat Shifts Ipstar's Focus

[george]

Shin Sat shifts iPSTAR's focus

BANGKOK: The operator of multimedia satellite iPSTAR has changed its customer target from Internet users to regional telecom carriers, the firm's chief executive said recently.

Dumrong Kasemseth, chief executive of Shin Satellite Plc (SATTEL), told The Nation that iPSTAR would now serve mainly telecom carriers in China, India and Australia.

"This [decision] is to cater to demands for low-cost telecom satellite services in rural areas," he said.

He claimed that the cost of providing rural telecom services via satellite was 80-per-cent lower than the cost of fixed-line networks.

"End-users need only a satellite dish to receive the signal, while providers don't have [to make] costly wireless or cable installations to the target areas," he added.

Shin Satellite hopes that the US$400-million (Bt15.5-billion) iPSTAR project, set to take off in the middle of the year, will be a new revenue source that will offset ebbing incomes from the Thaicom 1, 2 and 3 conventional satellites.

"The new customer target also reflects a shift from the original plan to tap the uncertain regional broadband Internet market," a telecom analyst from a foreign brokerage in Bangkok said.

While broadband Internet demand is exploding in some countries, the high cost of setting up such networks is hitting providers in others countries, he said.

The biggest potential customers of iPSTAR are in overseas markets, such as China, India and Australia, Dumrong said.

Shin Satellite claims to have adjusted its sales strategies to suit each market.

"We have to be more flexible. In some countries, they allow us to set up branches to provide services. But some places, such as China and India, require us to sell the bulk of our signal to local telecom operators, which will use our connections to provide their services," he said.

Furthermore, Shin Satellite plans to sell iPSTAR services to many Chinese telecom firms in search of more clients, a change from the original plan of selling only to China's state-run telecoms operator, China Railway Communications, with which it had already signed a sales memorandum of understanding, Dumrong said.

He added that Shin Satellite would continue to evaluate the broadband market.

--The Nation 2004-01-13