APSCC 2008 Satellite Conference & Exhibition

23-25 September 2008, Hotel Lotte, Jeju, Korea

Under the theme of ‘Satellites On The Move’, Asia’s premier satellite event for business and networking opportunities in Asia, the 11th Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications, Broadcasting and Space Conference and Exhibition, the APSCC 2008 Satellite Conference & Exhibition was successfully held in Jeju Island of Korea by gathering more than 300 delegates, speakers, exhibitors and sponsors from the satellite industry and by providing the latest information on the Asia-Pacific market. 131 companies from 21 countries attended CEO Roundtables, Panels, Sessions, the Exhibition and the 2008 APSCC Awards Ceremony.

With the opening address delivered by Dr. Nongluck Phinainitisart, APSCC President, the 3-day conference and exhibition was opened and followed by Keynote Addresses by Dr. Hong-yeol Paik, President, Korea Aerospace Research Institute, Gwang-Ju Seo, Executive Vice President, KT Corp., and Yeong-Ik Choi, Executive Vice President, Korea Digital Satellite Broadcasting.

At the Satellite Operators CEO Roundtable moderated by Richard Bowles, Director, ASEAN Office, Arianespace, Yutaka Nagai, President & CEO, Space Communications Corp., Tom Choi, Chairman and CEO, Asia Broadcast Satellite, Dr. Nongluck Phinainitisart, President, THAICOM Public Company Ltd., Paul Brown-Kenyon, COO, MEASAT, and Dr. Eui K. Koh, President, ProtoStar Asia shared share their insights on how they are positioning themselves for a sustained profitability and steady revenues.

Satellite Manufacturers Roundtable moderated by Pacome Revillon, Managing Director of Euroconsult, discussed the impact of financing crisis on market opportunities, the situation for spacecraft manufacturing, innovative features for new satellites, updates on relationships with Chinese, Russian and Indian manufacturers, and impact and expectations of ITAR.

At the Launch Services CEO Roundtable moderated by Patrick French from NSR, Jean-Yves Le Gall, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Arianespace, Hua Chongzhi, Vice President, China Great Wall Industry Corp., Wendy Mihalic, Vice President, ILS, Peter Stier, Vice President, Sea Launch, Shoichiro Asada, General Manager, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries discussed on the update of launch services including reliability, flexibility, competitive pricing, customer service and proven launch record.

During Satellite Financing Roundtable presented by Euroconsult and moderated by Pacome Revillon from Euroconsult, Paul Brown-Kenyon, COO, MEASAT, Yoichi Iizuka, CFO, SkyPerfect JSAT Holdings Inc., Willy Chow, CFOm Asia Broadcast Satellite, and Young Joon Kim, Partner, Milbank, Tweed, Hadley and McCloy LLP shared their views how the change in the financing environment will impact industry structure in the region.

Dr. Eui K. Koh, President, ProtoStar Asia, Tom Choi, CEO, Asia Satellite Broadcast, Paul Brown-Kenyon, COO, MEASAT, Hideaki Kido, Senior Managing Executive Officer, JSAT, and J. Scott Christner, Globecomm Systems Inc. reviewed the Asian DTH market updates, HDTV transitions and interactive innovations in the DTH Services Roundtable.

More than 80 high-level speakers participated in the sessions covered a variety of issues concerning the satellite and space-related industries such as Asian Satellite Market Business Strategy, Space Applications, Ground Systems, Mobile Satellite Services, Policy and Regulatory Issues, Insurance and Risk Management, , Broadband Services and Applications.

As a pre-conference program, the Military Satellite Services Workshop was also held on 22 September 2008. In the workshop, which featured military satellite applications, payload, equipments, services and solutions, speakers from SAT Corporation, ViaSat, Norsat, Thales Alenia Space, EADS Astrium, Intelsat, SWE-DISH, iDirect, NanoTronix, and the Agency for Defense Development of Korea presented the approaches for transforming the full range of satellite capabilities for military operations and explored how satellite technologies meet the military demands.

To recognize significant contributions that were made for the advancement of the satellite and space community in the Asia-Pacific region, the 2008 APSCC Awards Ceremony was also held on 23 September 2008. Kiyoshi Isozaki, Counselor and former President and CEO of JSAT Corporation, received the ‘Satellite Executive of the Year in Asia-Pacific Award’ for his contribution to the satellite industry by demonstrating his leadership in establishing the one and all-Japan Satellite Company and setting a vision for the satellite industry of the region. In the meantime, the APSCC Special Awards were given to five experts who have contributed to the APSCC activities for the protection of C-band at WRC-07. The recipients of 2008 APSCC Special Awards were Jorn Christensen and Pramook Chaiwongwutthikul, APSCC Vice Presidents, Ali E. Ebadi from MEASAT, Kevin Seow from SES NEW SKIES, and Per Hovstad from AsiaSat.

At the exhibition, GMV, the IAC 2009 Organizing Committee, Integral Systems, Intellian Technologies, KNS, Inc., KT Corp., NanoTronix, NEC Corporation, SES NEW SKIES, THAICOM Public Company Ltd., displayed their new products and demonstrated their latest services and solutions.

As a post-event program, APSCC conducted APSCC Golf Tournament sponsored by MARSH at Jeju Sky Hill Country Club and Sightseeing Tour on 25 September 2008.

Arianespace, Boeing Satellite Systems International, COMSAT Technical Services, iDirect, KT Corporation, MARSH, Orbital Sciences Corporation, SES NEW SKIES, Space Systems/Loral, Thales Alenia Space sponsored APSCC 2008 social events and logistics during the event.

APSCC 2009 will be held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Once again, this annual event of APSCC is expected to be a one-stop platform offering Asian satellite industry updates to senior executives to connect with each other and gain business opportunities through the first-rate roundtables, panel discussions, educational sessions and exhibition.