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Avanti Communications Group plcKa-band Broadband to Consumers NetworksEvolutions in Satellite Telecommunication Ground Segments - June 2008
The Consumer Market
We are all consumers!
Almost certainly we all have broadband access at home
Most of us will have a terrestrial solution, either ADSL or Cable
Some of us will use mobile solutions
How many of us have a satellite based solution?
But we all have one thing in common:
“We all want the most for the least” or even worse:
“Everything for Nothing”
The Consumer Market
The consumer or residential market is characterised by high performance BUT low price expectationsMust be a similar experience to other (sic terrestrial) broadband services:
Speed (surfing and downloading)Transparency to applications (e.g. VPNs)Availability (inc contention)
Pricing must be comparable to other solutions if penetration is to reach interesting levels – very low elasticity of demandService wrap must be similar to terrestrial ISPs/Telcos/Mobile operators:
Ease of ordering, installation commissioningReliability and after sales support
Available Market (Europe)
Original Digital Divide:
512 kbps versus dial-up
Rural areas beyond economic reach of terrestrial services is typically < 5% of homes where only dial-up is availableResearch indicates 3% of EU-27 homes and businesses will never receive DSL > 6 million potential subscribers
New Digital Divide:
Higher speed next generation services (> 8 Mbps) are not available much beyond 3 -5 km from the exchange 5 – 15% of homes
Represents several millions of homes without good quality connections
Important that satellite can compete in the higher speed markets
Proven Market (USA)
WildblueLaunched service June 2005 using Ka-band on Anik F2WildBlue-1 launched December’06 in service March ’07, increases capacity of system up to 750,000Total subscribers now in excess of 250,000 (est.)
Hughes Network SystemsStarted in Ku-band as DirecPC in 2001, added 10k/mth during 05/06Reached over 400,000 subscribers, 46,700 in Q1 2008 aloneNow launched Ka-band services on Spaceway 3, total capacity of 10Gbps
ViaSat claim more than 500,000 Surfbeam terminals shipped (Jan 08) and ViaSat 1 slated for 2011 – Large Ka-band satellite with total throughput up to 100 Gbps
Total Cost of Ownership Model
Fixed Costs / RevenueHardware cost @ -300€Installation cost @ -150€Connection fee @ +100€
Recurring Costs / RevenueBandwidth cost @ -10€/mthSupport costs @ -5€/mthMonthly service fee @ +30€
Profit:24 months = 10€ / 1% profit36 months = 190€ / 19% profit48 months = 370€ / 31% profit
Implications for satellite service providers
Cost of ground and space segment important
Low cost installation and reliability essential
Reducing churn and longevity of customer relationships key to profitability:
Service must be meet expectations
Service must be able to evolve over time to meet higher expectations:• Increasing speed (down and up)
• Shift towards increasing symmetry between down and upstream
• QoS for critical services
• Application acceleration – PEP must be able to evolve to handle new applications/protocols
• Security features to protect satellite network from attack
What is Avanti doing different?
HYLAS – low cost small but very flexible Ka-band mission
Avanti is a new small entrepreneurial service provider
Listed on LSE AIM with a Market Capitalisation of $120m. Long Term institutions and management own 60%;
Debt funding £32m for completion of HYLAS;
Company fully funded.
Strong Management team and 55 employees
Low operating costs
Market driven and very agile
Vertical integration and wholesale business
Already providing services using commercial Ku-band capacity
Current Services – End user delivery
Two service types:Hybrid satellite to WiFi 802.11 for home users
up to 2.5km - unlicensed frequencies
Satellite direct to premises
Higher grade of service usually used by business users
Copyright Avanti Communications Group plc
HYLAS Satellite platform
ISRO I-2K Platform – 22 years of in-orbit heritage:Launch Mass: 2550 Kg
Power : 2.4 KW
Lifetime:≥ 15 years
Falcon 9 Launcher(SpaceX)
HYLAS Payload
Flexible in-orbit capacity-to-beam allocation between three and eight-beam modes:
Generic flexible payload equipment provides flexibility in spectrum allocation to each beam
Flexi-TWTAs provide flexibility in power allocation to each beam
Adjustable channel bandwidth from 54 to 250 MHz
Channel uplink and downlink centre frequencies independently tuneable in orbit
Maximises usable capacity and minimises commercial risk (payload can be adapted to market trends)
Connectivity from the Ku- band payload to the Ka-band gateway and user downlinks
Connectivity from the Ka-band Forward and Return up links to the Ku-band downlinks
SPECIFICATIONVery high power (62dBW) Ka & Ku band satellite = 2-3 times more powerful than any other satellite over Europe66m two-way antenna45cm receive antennaUp to 3GHz capacity15 year lifetimeISRO I-2K Platform
• Launch mass 2600kg• 2KW payload power• 250kg payload
APPLICATIONS250 HDTV channels320,000+ broadband usersTriple playTransportable / mobile
HYLAS – Satellite Coverage
Copyright Avanti Communications Group plc
HYLAS Benefits
BENEFITS:Very small two-way antenna requirements: from 66cmLicensed band for two-way satellite communicationsReduced cost of satellite terminals (approximately €300 per terminal expected before 2010)Easy antenna pointing due to circular polarisationMore cost effective capacity due to frequency re-use in spot beamsUp to 2Mbps upload bandwidth from customer sites from a 66cm antenna (more is possible with larger antenna and/or larger amplifier)Transportable and mobile applications possible due to high power
Cost reduction through volume engineering for mass production
ACM required for both forward and return links to maximise throughput at Ka-band
Hub diversity to improve overall system availability
Higher terminal rates must be supported
Higher order modulations (8PSK) can be exploited
Simpler installation through circular polarisationand auto-power control
Embedded acceleration essential forconsumer market
Implications for Ground Segment
Conclusions
Everything depends on price:Price Space Segment costs
Price Terminal costs
Price Installation costs
Price Operational costs
Performance as good as terrestrialNo noticeable delay for surfing or for FTP
Availability > 99.5% (approx 1 hour per week outage)
Support service development and product reliability to keep customers and increase ARPU