Hong Kong – Almost 300 top-level executives from the world of satellite and government attended the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2008 in Singapore on June 16. The Forum was keynoted by global operators David McGlade, CEO of Intelsat, and Dan Goldberg, CEO of Telesat. McGlade highlighted growth in China and India and the huge potential for Asian satellite services which will only be partially served by the six new satellites to be launched in the region in the second half of this year. Even so, while the good news flow is dominant “over-capacity could easily happen again” – as it did in the late 1990’s – said Dan Goldberg, CEO of Telesat, who urged delegates to consider the threat of terrestrial competition and the need to be “more aggressive” with national operators. Laureen Ong, COO of News Corp’s STAR Group said “satellite services are our single largest infrastructural cost” and stressed that “prohibitive prices” could prevent the launch of new channels via satellite. The concluding CEO Wrap saw CEO’s of Intelsat, SAT-GE, SES NEW SKIES, AsiaSat, Asia Broadcast Satellite, Telesat and ACES International agree that demand is up for satellite services in Asia, bringing enormous opportunities to pay-TV and DTH platforms. In the meantime, the demand for mobile voice remains phenomenal and there is no expected slow-down in growth. Nevertheless, “coordination problems” – ITU endorsed agreements to ensure that newly launched Asia Pacific satellites do not interfere with existing vehicles – will be critical for ensuring that investment capital is not driven out of the market.