Perspectives on the satellite services industry : analysis of challenges and opportunities in the market, policy and regulatory environments

This thesis focuses on Space Communications and combines engineering, economics, market, and policy analyses to identify challenges and opportunities in the industry that are beyond the scope of any one isolated discipline. This work is divided in two parts. The first part begins by discussing the background of the communications satellite industry, its value-chain, service applications, history and evolution, and then explores two questions of significant importance to the survival and sustained growth of this industry: 1) are satellite communications solutions competing or complementary alternatives to terrestrial networks-in what context and for what service applications? And 2) what are the characteristics of the regulatory and policy environments and how do they affect the satellite communications industry? In order to address the first question, a framework to analyze the tradeoffs associated with satellite versus terrestrial solutions is developed around three axes: type of solution, service application, and geographic market. It is then argued that satellite solutions and terrestrial networks have a dual character: they are simultaneously competing and complementary technologies. The case is made that satellite solutions have important competitive advantages for voice and data transmission in rural markets and urban areas where terrestrial networks are not available. It is found that consumer video applications represent the most dynamic market with the highest potential of growth for satellite operators. Then, to assess the impact of the regulatory and policy environments, two key regulatory issues are discussed: spectrum/orbit allocation and spacecraft disposal. First, major conflicting issues in frequency bandwidth allocation are discussed.

Department dc:contributor.department

Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Engineering Systems Division

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2005

Author dc:creator

• Torres-Padilla, Juan Pablo

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Joseph H. Saleh.

• Technology and Policy Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/32288

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/32288