SES reaffirmed its plans to invest in more satellite capacity for Asia, and is prepared to invest as much as $650 million beyond its current expansion budget to meet exploding capacity demand for DTH services.
SES has already committed to a new bird, SES-8, set to launch in the first quarter of 2013, but is also actively looking at investing in satellites beyond its current plan, according to SES senior VP Deepak Mathur.
"We see the potential to invest in one to two additional satellites to deliver increased satellite capacity and coverage in Asia Pacific beyond 2014," Mathur said during a press conference at CommunicAsia2012.
The $650 million figure is in addition to the $4 billion SES has already committed to invest for 13 new satellites between 2011 and 2014. Six have been launched already, with a seventh - SES-5 - scheduled for launch this week as we went to press.
Mathur credited projected growth in DTH services as a key factor in its expansion plans for Asia. "The growth of the direct-to-home market in Asia Pacific has been tremendous over the past five years and is a key reason why the demand for satellite capacity continues to grow in the region."
Mathur said the number of DTH channels is expected to grow from 2,000 channels today to 9,000 by 2016, driven by demand for HD and local channels.