Singapore – CASBAA’s annual Satellite Industry Forum 2013, which took place in Singapore, explored issues including spectrum and market access, regulatory regimes and growth markets and future trends in the region, with keynotes and panel discussions among satellite experts and leaders representing all facets of the industry.

“CASBAA’s Satellite Industry Forum continues to evolve and grow to meet the needs of the Asia Pacific market,” said Christopher Slaughter, CEO, CASBAA. “This is indeed an industry that is in constant transition and it is our goal to assemble the best line-up of speakers to examine the many variables affecting the industry today and the outcomes for tomorrow.”

Opening this year’s forum, Gwynne Shotwell, President, SpaceX, commented on the uniqueness of the Asian region and how it was a tremendous market for launch vehicles as well as satellites – with the most growth projected for fixed satellite services over the next decade.

Partners for the CASBAA Satellite Industry Forum 2013 included Supporting Sponsor JSAT and Sponsors Arianespace, AsiaSat, Eutelsat, Marsh, MEASAT, MHI Launch Services, SES, SpaceX and SSL.

Thomas Choi, CEO, Asia Broadcast Satellite, pointed out that, “Some of the key issues Asian satellite operators are dealing with include an extreme level of competition in Asia with over 70 satellites in this region and over 20 operators providing some kind of services. Over the past 10 years we’ve actually had very depressed prices, the lowest prices for C-band capacity have been in the Asia Pacific market.”

Paul Brown-Kenyon, Chairman, CASBAA Satellite Industry Committee; CEO, MEASAT said, “The future is…different. It’s going to be an exciting future – lots of innovation, lots of change – but the key thing is it’s uncertain. The trick is to figure out how to deal with that uncertainty – how to build in the flexibility, to evolve and capture the growth. It is going to come in interesting areas.”