MPSC president Gabriel Pimentel said that there have already been initial talks along this line. "While there is nothing concrete yet, a regional consortium among satellite operators is definitely the way to go," he said.
Already, the company is talking with Butalsat of Luxembourg for complementary bandwidth. "If we are to add more customers in new markets such as China, India, and Indonesia, we need strong collaboration with other satellite operators. We are already in active discussions with a number of them," Pimentel said.
Agila II has 18 available high-power Ku-band transponders covering China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Philippines of which one-third is filled. The Philippine Multi-Media Systems Inc., which owns Dream Cable (a direct-to-home cable service provider), is one of Mabuhay's biggest users of Ku-band.
The satellite also has 28 C-band transponders covering three billion people covering 20 countries.
A subsidiary of the Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT), Mabuhay announced yesterday that its net income for the first semester of 2002 reached P55.5 million while revenues hit P760 million. This was lower than the P790 million registered during the same period last year, but according to Pimentel, satellite operators throughout the world have faced reduced revenues this year with the weakening globally of the telecommunications sector and increased competition.
The company hopes to maintain this year the P1.6 billion in revenues posted for the whole of 2001. "It is already quite a stretch to at least maintain your revenues, especially since some of our customers have dropped out while others reduced their requirements, "Pimentel explained.
Already, Mabuhay is in discussions with Infocom Technologies for hybrid satellite service to allow Infocom customers to receive high-speed Internet download.
In order to keep revenue streams, the company aims to be more than just a platform for the wholesale of transmission bandwidth, but also the provider of satellite-based value-added services. "Instead of addressing only traditional broadcast requirements, we are now bringing content owners and producers to new territories. We are bringing Asian channels to North America," he pointed out.
Mabuhay plans to provide value-added services to international news agencies by providing them with teleport and satellite bandwidth packages in hotspots around Asia so that breaking news can be fed by reporters to their respective bureaus. It has also recently started to institute an agency-based sales force to serve existing customers better and add more customers in new markets, such as China, India, and Indonesia. Philippine channel providers are collaborating with Mabuhay for their distribution requirements.
Hawaii’s strategic and historic value to Mabuhay is supported by the entry of Agila II as the only Asian satellite operator on the US Federal Communications Commission’s Permitted Space Station List. Being on the List makes it easier for licensed teleport operators to access Agila II. Teleport partners of Mabuhay such as Loral Cyberstar, Vision Accomplished, and Transvision in Kapolei Hawaii, have taken advantage of Agila II’s listing.
Since the launch of the Agila II in August 1997, Mabuhay has transformed itself from being a domestic satellite platform supplementing its parent PLDT’s communications network to becoming a preferred Asian and transpacific conduit for international communications, video distribution and contribution feeds, and value-added services via Internet Protocol (IP).
Maintaining strong relationships with major teleports in Hawaii has been a major part of Mabuhay‚s international strategy because it serves as a hub for communication between Asia and the Americas together with other transmission media such as fiber optic networks and other satellites who have coverage and connections across the Americas.
In concert with a teleport in Hawaii, Mabuhay successfully orchestrated a live news feed to Manila, originating from local reporters at the Burnham resident in Kansas, just after the hostage release. The feed was integrated into Philippine network news broadcasts.
Mabuhay has also recently entered the IP via satellite arena with the creation of the new Mabuhay I-Link service. Through relationships in Asia and Hawaii, Mabuhay has toiled to put together an IP over satellite package for corporate networks and ISP‚s. Company officials hope to sell the product soon directly to individual users.
The company has likewise worked hard to build crucial relationships with four out of the six teleport operators in Kapolei, Hawaii, and major teleports throughout Asia allowing it to package links to the Middle East, Africa, and Europe for clients. Customers can use teleports to send video and data transmissions through Agila II to any point within the footprint. Mabuhay has been able to work closely with teleport operators to package value-added services such as video playout and occasional use requirements.