Intelsat: The quiet communications catalyst

Though Intelsat is a global satellite giant, it has seldom made any noise about its products or services. RAHUL NEEL MANI got Intelsat’s regional director across the table, and found out more about the current state of affairs

Although the satellite-based communication business is not in very good shape at the moment, world-class companies are eyeing India because of its vast untapped potential. Satellites can do wonders in places difficult to reach through terrestrial networks, which is why Intelsat is spreading its footprint in India. It is also looking at other spheres of business, and not just the plain-vanilla satellite transponder business. Intelsat believes the Indian and Asian market possess a great deal of growth potential, especially in Internet applications.

Synergy

Intelsat’s new products like GlobalConnex are both in the news and in demand. GlobalConnex provides Internet Trunking solutions, which, Intelsat thinks, will fit the needs of Indian customers by allowing them to continue to build their businesses. By offering more end-to-end solutions to Indian customers, the company says it will help them save a good deal of time and money.

As we all know, certain places in India are still inaccessible. At such places the terrestrial infrastructure is either limited or non-existent, so that’s where companies like Intelsat can strike gold. "Intelsat satellites are a quick, easy and affordable way to bring connectivity to these remote parts of India," points out Raju Pulugurtha, regional director, sales and marketing, Asia-Pacific, Intelsat. The company hopes to establish a closer working relationship with its customers here so that it can respond to their needs and problems at short notice. To this end, the office in India is a strategic jumping point for Intelsat.

Even in this age of fibre, Intelsat believes that the satellite industry is strong and stable, and a necessity in India. The company views satellites as ideal for point to multi-point distribution, for places where terrestrial infrastructure is lacking or non-existent, and for last-mile connectivity. "Intelsat believes satellites are capable of providing many new applications such as broadband access reliably and affordably," says Pulugurtha.

One area the company will be focusing on is VSAT service providers in India. As Pulugurtha puts it, "VSATs are vital and important to companies of all sizes. As new opportunities such as teleconferencing, distance education and employee training spring up in India, Intelsat will be equipped to grab many of them."

Intelsat has a global terrestrial infrastructure in place to complement its global satellite system. This integrated terrestrial/satellite network—which the company calls GlobalConnex solutions—was implemented to meet the customer requirement of one-stop shopping and end-to-end solutions. "This is an initiative that was part of our business plan once we were privatised, and we have been able to execute it successfully," says Pulugurtha.

GlobalConnex solutions are end-to-end, integrated network services designed with flexibility to meet global and regional communication needs of clients. They can deliver data, Internet, voice and video content efficiently and reliably to virtually anywhere in the world, and anytime. The solutions are targeted at Tier-2 and Tier-3 Internet Service Providers (ISPs), and emerging telecom companies in India. Companies of all sizes use GlobalConnex since it offers a cost-effective and flexible way for customers to build a solution based on their exact needs. The core services offered by GlobalConnex are Internet Trunking, International Private Line (IPL) and Video Solutions.

Direct Internet Access through Intelsat

Products at a glance

Intelsat is propelling the growth engine with its diversified product portfolio. Its Internet Trunking Service (ITS) is a turnkey solution developed to provide direct, high-speed, US and European Internet backbone connectivity to small and mid-sized ISPs operating in remote locations where telecom infrastructure is minimal or non-existent. "It eliminates the need for separate vendors by providing the space segment, ground segment and Internet backbone access—all from one service provider," explains Pulugurtha. "We provide three Internet Trunking options, allowing the customer to customise according to the number, size and growth potential of his service locations."

Intelsat’s IPL service provides a secure, high-speed, dedicated, point-to-point connection for high-demand voice, data or IP traffic over an integrated satellite-fibre network. It makes for a quick increase of regional and global reach while avoiding expensive and time-consuming network build-outs.

Video Solutions offer flexible, robust, integrated, space-terrestrial connectivity solutions to meet unique customer requirements. The company says that its Video Solutions enable customers to derive more value and achieve cost benefits from the increased convenience of its new and expanded network, providing transmission connectivity and signal processing.

According to Pulugurtha, "GlobalConnex is available around the world by combining the satellite space segment with teleport services, fibre and points of presence (PoP) located at strategic exchange points for voice, data, video and IP traffic." Intelsat’s infrastructure provides multiple bandwidth options and IP terminations, allowing users to connect to anywhere in the world. The company’s capabilities include teleports in Germany, Maryland, California and Hong Kong, as well as PoPs in New York, Los Angeles, Frankfurt and London.

Small and medium ISPs, new and emerging telecom companies, are popping up everywhere around the world, especially since the global trend is moving towards deregulation of markets. Intelsat can thus easily compete for new market share by providing solutions like GlobalConnex to help smaller companies reduce costs associated with their communications. By packaging satellite capacity with terrestrial infrastructure, it is able to put together the most viable solution—either completely over satellite or a combination of satellite and fibre.

Intelsat offers three Internet Trunking options. The Basic Internet Trunking option provides a point-to-point connection to the Internet backbone, which provides flexibility and growth potential to small and medium-sized ISPs, and meets their evolving business needs. The Shared User Group option is a service designed for smaller or emerging service providers with a shared user connection from the Internet backbone among multiple service locations within the same satellite transponder. It allows optimising network usage.

Apart from this, Intelsat’s video services present broadcasters, rights holders, and content and service providers with a reliable distribution mechanism into local terrestrial broadcast towers. Also, by coming to Intelsat, users can make just one phone call to book an entire service—from a simple transmission to a fully managed event. "The ease in using Intelsat’s one-stop-shop for video services saves them a significant amount of time and money, and avoids coordination hassles," says Pulugurtha.

He adds that Intelsat is continually working on developing and producing new products that will save the customer’s time and money. "We have recently rolled out the Intelsat Broadband Service so that our customers have access to high-speed, high-quality Internet, data and video services." But Pulugurtha declines to say anything about the expansion of the company’s India operations, or whether there will be further investments in it.