Satellite Executive Briefing spoke with Ali Al-Kuwari, President and CEO of Qatar-based satellite operator Es’hailSat. Mr. Al-Kumari has had several leadership position in major companies for over 20 years. Prior to joining Es’hailSat, Mr. Al-Kuwari was Assistant Secretary General at ict Qatar. He also held the position of Finance Director at ict Qatar and was a member of the organization’s management team overseeing the strategic investment in the satellite initiative which became Es’hailSat. Mr. Al Kuwari has a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and Master’s degree in Financial Analysis. He joined ict Qatar in 2004 following senior financial positions with Ras Gas and the Ministry of Finance. Excerpts of the interview follows:
How has Es’hailSat been coping with the global COVID-19 pandemic? In what way has it affected your business?
The impact of Covid-19 pandemic for businesses in 2020 has been felt across all industries including the satellite industry. However, not all segments within the satellite industry has had similar impact. Energy, aero IFC and maritime segments have had the biggest impact, whereas broadcast and broadband segment had minimal impact.
With all major events and exhibitions being cancelled or postponed in 2020, and travel restrictions in place, the lack of in person meetings and being unable to roll out new solutions and products had caused delays to some of our plans for 2020 and has had some minor impact on our business. Our core business since we started operating had been to support the media industry with satellite capacity for DTH services. And this broadcast segment has had only made a minor impact for us, with customers’ expansion plans being put on hold which marginally impacted our growth projections. However, we expect the demand for satellite services to increase over the next few years as broadcasters consider transitioning from a traditional on-premise set-up to a virtual system such as satellite cloud-based service for content storage and distribution. With majority of the world doing business or interacting online, the demand for broadband has increased, which has increased the demand for satellite capacity for broadband, VSAT services and cellular backhaul. This has positively impacted our business, one which was not projected.
Moving forward, post-pandemic, how do you see your company in the next few years?
Our focus in the mid to long term will continue in the broadcast segment, as the DTH market in the Middle East and North Africa is still a vibrant and growing market. Having satellites in the MENA broadcast hotspot of 25.5°E/26°E is an added incentive for broadcasters to join the Es’hailSat neighborhood to distribute their channels, as they are instantly able to reach a wide viewership base.
The impact of the pandemic on the satellite industry and the broadcast and telecommunications eco system on the whole, and the slowdown in business activities in 2020 has given us time to review and redefine our longer-term corporate strategy. We started operations as a satellite operator supplying raw satellite capacity to broadcasters and government entities, and gradually started supporting value add services to our customers over the past few years. Given the impact of various incidents of 2020 to the industry in general, we will be fast tracking a few of our strategic initiatives to expand our business and services beyond our initial scope; from managed services for enterprise customers, to providing end to end service to broadcast customers, or expanding beyond the traditional satellite capacity business.
With these initiatives and investments in infrastructure and new satellite programs we see a lot of potential for growth for our company in the long term and differentiate ourselves with targeted offerings to our customers and strengthening our position within our region.
You have recently completed a teleport in Doha, tell us about the services that you are providing in this teleport and how does this complement your satellite business?
Our teleport is a purpose-built facility located north of Doha. The primary purpose of the teleport is for telemetry tracking and command (TT&C) of our satellites and support capacity management. With an area of 50,000sqm, the site provides adequate space to build systems for TT&C, capacity management and other value-added services for customers and stakeholders.
Teleport services include DTH, turnaround services, playout services, MCPC bouquet services, uplink services, antenna hosting services, datacentre hosting services, equipment colocation services, VSAT hub services, studio facilities, disaster recovery services, among others. The teleport is connected via redundant fiber for terrestrial connectivity, with dual incoming power and back-up generators, cooling and other essential utility services. With highly trained staff manning the teleport 24x7, the teleport supports major customers with critical services. We see the teleport as a key service enabler and revenue generator, and it complements our satellite capacity business with enhance service offerings for our customers.
Having the right infrastructure, providing end to end and value-added services and being responsive to our customers’ needs enable us to provide the best in class service to our customers.
What do you see as the key trends in the Middle East satellite market in the new few years and how does your company plan to address these trends?
DTH market in the Middle East and North Africa is a robust market, one with high revenues and high satellite capacity demands. Historically consumers in MENA have been consuming content that are free to air, although PayTV has been gaining large market share with premium high-quality content, with satellite the preferred mode of content distribution. Given the nature of the industry, consumers and the landscape in MENA, we expect the video market in the region to remain robust for the foreseeable future.
However, with the impact of Covid-19, we are seeing trends in some verticals that we believe will have an impact on the industry. Application such as broadband, backhaul & trunking, mobility services will see growth in services and capacity demands. Broadband has been one of the sectors that grew during this pandemic with people increasingly accessing the network for business and leisure. Backhaul & trunking sector has been extremely resilient during this crisis and will continue showing growth as markets open further for business. Mobility sector has been one that was impacted the most this year, but as travel restrictions ease and people start traveling, we will see the demands picking up.
Technological trends that we see will address the above demands, will be using High Throughput satellites to provide higher capabilities with reduced cost; software defined networks to provide flexible and optimized networks; or hybrid GEO/MEO/LEO network to provide a flexible and seamless connectivity between regions. These are areas that we will be actively exploring to address the demands of our customers and market.
What else can we expect from Es’hailsat in the coming years, i.e. any plans for new satellites or services?
As a company, our aim is to be a global satellite operator providing world class services to strategic stakeholders and customers, who value broadcast and telecommunications independence, high quality of service and wide geographical coverage. With an initial focus within our base in MENA, we have established ourselves as a reliable and innovative company supporting the key broadcast and telecommunications markets in the region.
Coming out of a difficult year for the industry in 2020, where we have been consolidating our business and putting in place longer term plans, over the next few years we see these plans coming to fruition.
We aim to roll out new products and services over the next 12 months to enhance our offerings to our customers within the eco system for broadcast and telecommunications sectors. For example, integrating on premise and cloud-based playout solutions along with an OTT solution enhances the value we provide to broadcast customers in terms of flexible on ground solutions and widening their reach.
Longer term we will continue to work with our customers to meet their connectivity requirements with services such as IOT, M2M and EO, which will require large amounts of satellite capacity. We also see much potential in the mobility area, both in land and maritime, where satellites remain the primary solution for connectivity.
From a strategic corporate perspective, we will also be engaging with partners in the industry for new satellite programs to expand our reach beyond the MENA region. We plan to build scale through partnerships with leading international satellite operators, with newer state-of-the-art satellites in other prime orbital locations around the globe, offering customers flexible and reliable services.
