Effective regulation of the satellite communications industry is essential to Asian consumers’ ability to receive the thousands of television streams that make up the Asian pay TV industry.
For over a decade, Casbaa – and its Satellite Industry Committee – was active in promoting open markets for satellite services in Asia, and in urging national and international regulatory bodies not to make frequency assignments that will result in fatal interference with TV broadcasts.
The Asia Video Industry Association (AVIA) now takes on that mantle.
C-Band
Several governments have assigned C-band frequencies to broadband wireless systems, greatly impeding the locals’ ability to receive broadcasts on those frequencies – used for five decades by the satellite and television industries.
Tens of millions of C-band dishes still serve hundreds of millions of Asian households and businesses. C-band frequencies (3.4-4.2 GHz) are vital to operations of satellite services, particularly in tropical and subtropical regions. There is no adequate substitute means for mass distribution of broadcast programming in a vast region that includes large zones of tropical rainfall (which causes “rain fade” interference with other frequency bands.)
If you’d like a clear, one-page representation of the issues involved, you can download this AVIA Briefing Paper.
Societies in the Asia-Pacific also rely on C-band to support business communications, telemedicine, distance education, and disaster recovery – in addition to distributing broadcast programming to millions of TV reception dishes (TVROs).
But competition for available spectrum is tough, and other groups have their eye on the C-band frequencies. In the mid-2000s, some governments attempted to initiate “sharing” of frequencies with broadband wireless networks – with disastrous results; sharing doesn’t work over satellite’s ultra-long distances.
Now, governments are being asked to slice off bits of the C-band in the name of accommodating 5G telephony. This White Paper explains why that’s a bad idea – it sacrifices long-term communications benefits for short-term gains that will not adequately power 5G systems.
AVIA and its members are fighting to preserve C-band for the millions of Asian consumers who rely on it.
If you’re a user of satellite C-band services, contact your regulator, and let them know that C-band is vital for your business and your links with the rest of the world.