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Feature story

Jean-Yves Le Gall at SkyFORUM: Arianespace will remain the industry leader!

October 30, 2003

With the telecommunications industry looking for a business upturn, Arianespace is prepared to remain the commercial launch leader by providing cost-effective payload lift services for its international customer base.

This was one of the main messages from a keynote session at the fall SkyFORUM meeting in New York City on October 30, which brought together prominent industry leaders, market analysts and the media for a frank dialog on the satellite industry's present and future.

"During the past 20 years we were the leader in the market, we are still the leader, and trust me - we will continue to be the leader," Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall said during his participation in SkyFORUM's "View from the Top" executive roundtable.

Le Gall described how Arianespace has restructured to meet the demands of a leaner, more price-sensitive telecommunications industry - adding that the company is extremely well placed to answer the needs of operators around the world. This includes cost-efficient launch services for the replacement of older satellites reaching the end of their in-orbit lifetimes, as well as for new, emerging telecom business applications.

Joining Le Gall in the "View from the Top" panel were executives from three long-time Arianespace clients and users: PanAmSat President & CEO Joseph Wright; Rob Bednarek, the SES Global Executive Vice President of Corporate Development; and Alcatel Space Chairwoman and CEO Pascale Sourisse.

PanAmSat's Joseph Wright said that despite the challenges facing telecommunications operators, opportunities for business growth do exist - including the video delivery market in North America and Europe.

"We, however, have to change the way we do business," Wright said. "The good old days of just putting up a satellite and then being able to take orders to fill up the transponders are over. Most of our customers want more service, they expect service, and the operators who are able to provide the service will succeed."

Rob Bednarek of SES Global suported Wright's assessment that the video distribution business - in particular, multi-channel video distribution - will help drive new demand in the telecommunications sector. "Video distribution is alive and doing very well," he added. "Subscribers are being added and services are increasing."

Bednarek also agreed with Alcatel Space's Pascale Sourisse that another growth area is broadband. "There are new signs of life in broadband, and after some false starts - including technology that wasn't quite ready, and a chaotic marketing approach in certain locations - we're sorting it out. I think the industry has done a good job of pulling back, retooling, and it will be introducing broadband across multiple markets in the next few years."