Satellite 99 Conference Expected to Be 'Dawn of a New Era'
Washington, Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Satellite 99, the satellite industry's biggest conference of the year, is expected this week to live up to its billing as the ''Dawn of a New Era.''
The 18th annual event, which starts Wednesday, will feature 200 companies displaying products and services at the Washington, D.C., Convention Center.
This year will be an important one for the industry, which is expected in the next decade to spend $150 billion to expand satellite services. This year, Iridium LLC subscriber counts will be a key barometer of satellite-telephony demand, and Boeing Co.'s ''Sea Launch'' joint venture -- launching satellites from an ocean platform -- is expected to get off the ground. ''It's the Comdex of satellites,'' said Armand Musey, a satellite analyst at CE Unterberg Towbin, referring to the computer industry's largest trade show, which drew 220,000 people to Las Vegas in November.
Companies ranging from satellite manufacturers including Loral Space & Communications Ltd. to Trimble Navigation Ltd., a maker of software and equipment for global positioning systems, to PanAmSat Corp., the world's largest commercial-satellite operator, will be represented. Executives, analysts and investment bankers are expected at the three-day event.
One of the highlights will be a discussion of what went wrong with PanAmSat's Galaxy IV satellite, which spun out of control in May and left tens of million of U.S. paging and other customers without service, said Janet Allen, Satellite 99 Conference director.
The industry is creating global satellite networks to offer an array of services, including a global phone network, high- speed Internet access, videoconferencing, telemedicine and other services. |
