Intersputnik International Organization of Space Communications, one of the first satellite operators in the world history, has been in the satellite communications market since 1971. Intersputnik is an open intergovernmental organization that can be joined by any state. Currently, the organization includes 24 member countries.

Intersputnik provides integrated communications services to broadcasters, telecom operators and corporate clients via three Russian Express-A satellites and the LMI-1 satellite of the Lockheed Martin Intersputnik joint venture. Additionally, the organization markets and sells satellite capacity and telecom services of the Eutelsat system that includes 23 communications satellites as well as those of the Gascom system (Yamal-200 satellites).

Intersputnik is a member of the Asia-Pacific Satellite Communications Council and an associate member of Global VSAT Forum.

ISDN, DSL, MMDS - these technologies are well-developed mostly in metropolises. But how could high-speed access be provided at locations with no funds available for such systems or no cable at all? Here is where satellite technologies come in.

Internet can also be referred to as broadcasting technology. Geostationary satellites are capable of addressing the challenges of connecting both operators and whole areas to the remote Internet backbone (trunk services) and at the same time deliver Internet directly to end users, thus eliminating the ‘last mile’ issue.

As a majority of communication operators, Intersputnik is oriented to satisfy the growing demand in broadband services. Joining forces with the largest Internet and VSAT technology providers, Intersputnik offers the integrated high-speed satellite Internet access services to corporate users and ISPs.

Generally such a solution provides for the setup of a digital satellite access channel to the Internet backbone and includes on-going customer support via a network operation center.

Connection to the Internet backbone is provided via the LMI-1 communications satellite, operating at 75º East since November 1999, with access to full-service teleports in Western Europe, Russia, and Israel. The teleports are connected via high-speed links to PoPs of major 1st Tier Internet providers ? Cable & Wireless, AT&T, Teleglobe, UUNET and others.

The services can be provided throughout the whole of Asia, as well as in Russia and the CIS, Europe, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. The choice of a connection point and a teleport depends on the user's location and the required type of service.

From the technical point, the satellite Internet connection services in the Intersputnik system are implemented based on a similar scheme. Taking as an example, the ISPeed service, let us review the technical specifications and requirements to the user’s equipment necessary to organize satellite access link to the Internet backbone, based on DVB technology.

The ISPeed service, a joint project of Intersputnik and Gilat Satcom Ltd., is provided via the LMI-1 satellite using the HUB (Petach Tikva, Israel), which is connected by fiber (155 Mbps) to the Internet backbone via PoPs of the 1st Tier ISPs (AT&T and Infonet). Connection to the two primary providers increases the reliability of services.

The Central HUB connects the remote terminals to the Internet backbone and the Network Operation Center controls the system operations and provides customer support. Users are connected to the HUB using the remote VSAT-terminals with the standard set of RF and Internet equipment. At present, there are over 350 remote terminals operating in the ISPeed system.

When setting up the DVB-based Internet access, ISPeed customers enjoy different options: connection with guaranteed speed or using the dynamic resource distribution principle; setup of the request channel via satellite or terrestrial lines; any inbound/outbound Internet traffic ratio.

The remote terminal should include an antenna with a diameter of 2.4 m or more. There are no special requirements to the antenna if the return channel is established via terrestrial lines. A satellite router can be a DVB-S receive card installed in a customer host PC.

To arrange a transmit-receive terminal, the power amplifier providing for the requisite conversion of the transmitting signal is installed close to the antenna feed. In case of operation of the return channel at up to 2 Mbpsб, a special satellite router is used (Shiron InterSKY? RG384 or RG2000). This router forms the transmit signal, processes the group receive signal and separates the information received in accordance with the addresses available.

Intersputnik's experience demonstrates that the DVB-based two-way satellite Internet access is an optimum solution for regions with non-existent or underdeveloped terrestrial infrastructure or when it is necessary to establish a high-speed return channel. This solution provides the users with an independent access link to global information resources as well as a whole range of value-added services.

Today, Intersputnik provides services via an efficient state-of-the-art space segment designed to establish communications networks in the Asia-Pacific region: LMI-1 (75o East), Express-6A (80o East), W5 (70.5o East) and Yamal-200 (90o East) satellites.

Besides the above-mentioned integrated solutions, Intersputnik offers satellite channels for lease to set up all types of modern telecommunications services, including delivery of national and regional TV and radio programming; voice, data and multimedia transmission; and is ready for cooperation with regional operators to create new and develop existing broadband satellite communication networks.

As a result of the convergence of technologies such as telecommunication, Internet and satellite, emergency telemedicine can provide an efficient means to overcome this limitation of distance and time. Many emergency telemedicine systems have been evolved for emergency personnel to communicate with remote specialists for consultation, treatment, diagnosis, or to transfer instructions using various methods of communication, including satellite services.

In particular, it is possible to provide medical services via satellite in situations such as on a battlefield where no specialists are available; at sea, to treat emergency patients; in rural areas without other means of communication; and where great distances exist between patient and doctor.

With this system, it is possible to relay high-resolution medical images and patient vital signs such as ECG, SPo2, BP and temperature to specialists at different sites/hospitals or even at their own homes. Various real-time patient medical data of can be sent to remote specialists by TCP/IP Internet or wireless network. In this way, patients residing in remote regions without any large hospitals nearby can access services that would otherwise be unavailable to them.

Mr. Jason Song
President and CEO
MIRU Corporation
www.mirunet.com
paul@mirunet.com

The 1990s will long be remembered in the global satellite industry as like no other in its four decades of history : full of promise, new projects, “can’t lose” propositions, and increasingly congested skies, at least on paper. If there were centers (or epicenters) for this groundswell of optimism and investment, they were Asia and the United States. In Asia, almost every major nation in the region launched at least one new satellite system. In the United States, with a mature fixed satellite service industry, the focus was on new frequency bands and services. In waves, especially in the United States, existing and many potential new service providers proposed a wide variety of new mobile, broadcasting (video and audio) and broadband satellite services in many new frequency bands. Non-geostationary orbiting systems came into fashion while there continued to be strong interest in new uses for geostationary satellites.

The collapse of many of these ventures as the 1990s closed has made this first decade of the 21st Century one for contemplation and introspection. Satellite industry executives, financial analysts and bankers have wondered how it all went wrong and why they did not see it coming.
On the policy and regulatory front, the bust following the 1990s boom also left national regulators wondering whether all the effort they expended was worthwhile. The World Trade Organization’s Basic Telecommunications Agreement (“WTO Agreement”) and the Global Mobile Personal Communication Services Memorandum of Understanding (“GMPCS MoU”), sponsored by the International Telecommunication Union (“ITU”), required a great deal of effort to negotiate on the part of both governments and industry. While these agreements opened many national markets, not as many new services and suppliers arrived as expected.


The FCC Looks Back

The U.S. Federal Communications Commission, which had to bear an inordinate workload during the 1990s, also looked back and found that its own procedures had not stood up well under the test of wave after wave of new license applications. Procedures which ideally should have quickly sped the proposed innovations to American and global consumers, instead apparently slowed them down. The time lag between the filing of the first application for a new service and the issuance of licenses often stretched to four or more years (the record is now seven years, for still pending V-band applications), an unsatisfactory result in a world working on “Internet time”.
Throughout the 1990s, the FCC used a regulatory procedure called processing rounds which it had developed in the early 1980s, when it first saw stacks of new domestic fixed satellite applications arriving in its mailbox. As modified over time, in outline the procedure worked this way: a) the FCC would put a new satellite application on public notice for comment and invite applications for similar satellites by a certain date; b) the FCC reviewed applications for technical completeness and the applicants for their financial ability to build, launch and operate their systems for one year; c) the applicants met informally to work out frequency and/or orbital location sharing plans; d) the FCC would review any plan that emerged from these negotiations or create its own if one did not; and, finally e) the FCC would issue orders approving rules for the new service, individual licenses to the applicants, and an orbital deployment or spectrum sharing plan. While this process was underway, either the FCC or one or more of the applicants would prepare and submit advance publication and request for coordination information for the entire group, flooding the ITU with filings. The very process itself, especially the setting of deadlines for similar applications to be filed, seemed to set the stage for the breakdowns that followed. Fearing that they might not get another chance for years, companies would file applications in the processing rounds even though they did not have well-thought out technical and business plans. Their rationale was that the long time lag between the filing of applications and the actual award of licenses would them time to consider their options. Companies eager to proceed, on the other hand, were forced to spend months and years negotiating with fellow applicants who were not in a similar hurry.

To make certain that licenses were put to use and to try to counter the tendency of some companies to drag their feet even after license award, the FCC set deadlines by which licensees had to sign satellite manufacturing contracts (generally one year for the first satellite) and launch satellites. Missed milestones meant a license would be revoked. In opening up the U.S. market as a result of the 1997 WTO Agreement, the FCC imposed many, but not all, of the same requirements on foreign satellite systems.


New System Implemented

To its credit, rather than assume that nothing like the 1990s would happen again, the FCC has sought to radically change how it will license new satellites going forward. Under the new rules, satellite applications for all types of services will be taken one-at-a-time from a queue of pending applications. Applications for geostationary satellites will be handled individually and, generally, for one orbital location at a time. If a requested orbital location is unavailable, the application will be dismissed. Non-geostationary systems will still use a processing round approach, but the time given to review will be shortened and the presumption will be that available spectrum will be shared equally among all applicants. No single applicant will get more than one-third of the available spectrum. Applicants that already have licenses for five unlaunched geostationary satellites and two unlaunched non-geostationary systems will not be permitted to apply for more. (In contrast, some 1990s global broadband satellite system applications covered more than a dozen geostationary orbital locations at a time.)

To ensure the timely launch of licensed systems, the FCC will now require new licensees to post financial bonds, $5 million for geostationary satellites and $7.5 million for non-geostationary systems, soon after the license is awarded. The bonds, which may be reset after a further inquiry, will be reduced as licensees accomplish a new, more detailed set of milestones (four for geostationary systems and five for non-geostationary systems). Failure to achieve a milestone will mean forfeiture of the bond and, potentially, other penalties. Finally and potentially significantly, the FCC eased restrictions on the sale of satellite licenses, so that a faltering licensee could sell a license rather than simply forfeit its bond. However, the new license owner will have to meet the original licensee’s milestones and any other conditions.


What it Means for Asian Operators

For Asian satellite operators and national regulators, the changes over time could be dramatic. First, it seems likely that even when the U.S. satellite industry revives, the new FCC procedures will mean that the ITU will not be flooded with U.S. filings quite as quickly as in the past. Combined with the likely expiration of many U.S. filings at the ITU made in the 1990s, this should mean a reduced coordination burden around the world and, perhaps, new opportunities for other countries to exploit space over the Asia/Pacific region.

However, the FCC’s new procedures will also impose additional burdens on any foreign satellite system seeking access to the U.S. market. Foreign systems will have to stand in the same queue as American systems and will now have to submit full technical information, rather than just information concerning their coordination status or whether they have been launched or not. Under the previous regime, foreign systems that had been coordinated and launched were not required to submit a great deal of new paperwork to the FCC in order to gain access to the U.S. market. However, in practice, the FCC found that coordination documents did not supply it with all the information it needed to ensure the satellite could operate into the United States without causing harmful interference.

The greatest burden will be on foreign systems that have not been launched, because they will also be required to post a financial bond and meet the same milestones as U.S. operators, once they are authorized to provide service to the U.S. In addition, foreign systems already authorized to serve the United States will now have to notify the FCC if the operating parameters of their satellites change, such as when a satellite is replaced with a more powerful model, or if ownership of their systems change. The FCC may also consider whether such ownership changes warrant the imposition of any conditions on a foreign system’s authority to serve the U.S. market.
Whether the FCC’s reforms will work as planned or create unanticipated and unwelcome side effects, only time will tell. As the new procedures went into effect at the end of August, reports indicated that the queue was already full of applications. The key question will be whether the new procedures will indeed speed new systems and services into use - or create new barriers and distortions. For foreign operators who have not already obtained authority to serve the U.S. market, the new procedures will likely prove even more confusing and arduous than the old. While this may encourage complaints and grumbling, the fact that U.S. systems will have to use the same procedures will make it difficult to claim that the new procedures violate either the letter or the spirit of United States commitments under the WTO Agreement.

Timothy J. Logue Space & Telecommunications Analyst Coudert Brothers LLP. Washington, D.C. loguet@coudert.com.

The Constellation-X Observatory shown in Figure 1 is a combination of several X-ray satellites orbiting in close proximity to each other and working in unison to generate the observing power of one giant telescope. The current plan calls for four satellites. With the Observatory, scientists will investigate black holes, Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, galaxy formation, the evolution of the Universe on the largest scales, the recycling of matter and energy, and the nature of "dark matter."

Introduction

With wireline, wireless and satellite communications, broadband services featuring some type of merged broadcasting and telecommunications are spreading rapidly worldwide. While carefully guarding their own domains, broadcasting and telecom carriers are progressively invading each other’s business areas. As a result, the merging of services has been accelerating. For example in Korea, leading telco and broadband service provider KT Corp. provides Internet broadcasting by means of xDSL, while CATV carriers also provide them through coaxial cable or optical fiber cable. In the area of wireless telecommunications, SK Telecom (SKT) and KTF, a subsidiary of KT, are preparing for the commercialization of 3G mobile communications at the end of this year. On the other hand, in the satellite business, Korean satellite carrier SkyLife commercialized HDTV on 1st October 2003, and hybrid data services supported by DVB-MHP standard on May 2003. Against this background, new technologies such as xDSL and CATV, 3G mobile communications, two-way satellite Internet, terrestrial & satellite broadcasting have been actively commercialized or developed. Rapid progress of H/W technology and various contents businesses such as games, e-learning or e-commerce, etc. enable us to provide services such as broadband services. These kinds of new conceptual technology will be realized by means of ubiquitous communication through home networking services in the near future.
Therefore, first of all, in order to achieve ubiquitous communication it is very important to consider the international standards for each area of business.

Key Elements of Broadband Service Technology

Satellite Broadband System Configuration

□ Detailed Features

□ Affordable Services

Commercialized Business Models (Domestic)

□ Korea Vending Machine Association (One-Way)

The APSCC Special Seminar on Satellite Communications Systems for Indochina, organized in conjunction with Vietnam’s Ministry of Posts and Telematics, took place over two days in October in that country. The event was a first for APSCC in that region, and marked the first such collaboration with the government of Vietnam

Vietnam is currently preparing for the launch of its first communications satellite, Vinasat, in 2005. The satellite is intended for television and radio broadcasting as well as civil aviation purposes. Since preparatory work on the Vinasat project is already underway, the Vinasat project teams would benefit from meetings with satellite manufacturers, launch vehicle service providers, satellite system operators, service providers, space insurance providers and all those involved in satellite industries. With the aim of providing information to the satellite industries of Vietnam, the seminar brought together leading international industry professionals and Vietnamese government officials and experts.

184 executives attended the seminar, about 90 of them local participants from the satellite industries of Vietnam and 94 from around the world.

Providing an overview of all industries and services related to satellites, the two-day seminar was divided into 6 sessions. Speakers and participants included top executives from Arianespace, ACeS, Shin Satellite, NEC Toshiba, SpeedCast, ILS, ISB, etc. Details of the seminar program are as follows:

On 9 October 2003, the APSCC Annual Council Meeting was convened to review and discuss issues on current membership status, projects and budget plan for the year 2004 and the future activities of APSCC.