MEASAT is planning to add a High Throughput Satellite (HTS) to its fleet in 2021, which will see the Malaysian satellite operator adding to existing and scheduled HTS capacity slated for the region.
The new satellite will principally provide broadband services to Malaysia and will be located at 91.5 degrees east, at the same position as a further three MEASAT satellites.
Speaking at the APSAT 2018 conference, MEASAT Chief Operating Officer Yau Chyong Lim explained that the next generation satellite would give the company the opportunity to bring its costs down through its frequency re-use and multiple spot beams.
The Asia-Pacific region is currently experiencing oversupply in terms of capacity which has caused capacity prices to fall. Many operators have flocked to the APAC region after witnessing huge HTS growth over the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Both SES and Eutelsat have added HTS capacity over Asia and Intelsat is due to launch its Horizons-3e satellite along with SkyPerfect JSAT. Telesat is also slated to launch its Telstar-18 Vantage/APSTAR-5C satellite with APT Satellite. In addition, Asia-based operators Kacific, muSpace, and China Satcom all have HTS spacecraft in the pipeline to add to the rest.
MEASAT does promise that its satellite will provide more diverse services as the company will be taking a hybrid approach to the satellite’s design and it will feature multiple payloads. Though MEASAT’s core business lies in broadcast (75%), Lim sees Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) data as an important market for Malaysia going forward.
