The conference opened with the regional operators on how they would fit in the rapidly evolving world of satellite. Raymond Chow, recently appointed as Chief Commercial Officer, AsiaSat, provided an overview of AsiaSat's business strategies and emphasized the importance to focus and improve AsiaSat's video business to deliver content to the big screen and small screen. He also opined that customers understand that quality of service can be more important than a small difference in pricing. Being the first private satellite operator company in Indonesia with over 330Gbps capacity across 3 satellites for Indonesia, Malaysia and Philippines, Agus Budi Tjahjono, Director of Commercial, PSN, is optimistic that PSN will become the biggest satellite capacity provider in the ASEAN region by the end of 2023. Besides sharing his optimism on the growth for demand for satellite communication, Yutaka Moriai, Executive Officer, Group President - Global Business Group, Space Business Unit, SKY Perfect JSAT, also foresees great opportunities in building highly integrated space network for both innovative communication and data collection, with plans to invest up to YEN150b (US$1.1b) by 2030. Besides looking into the new domain of highly integrated space network, SKY Perfect JSAT is also poised for an aggressive push into Earth Observation Space. Patompob (Nile) Suwansiri, CEO, Thaicom, shared similar optimism in the Earth Observation Space and GEO special intelligence arena, especially in their home market. Thaicom is also expecting their first commercial partnership in LEO satellite IOT business in Thailand with Globalstar in the coming months.

While there is a trend from Satellite to Cloud, the role of satellite in video distribution is still a growing business, and to achieve this, Sanjay Duda, CEO, Planetcast Media Services, highlighted the need for satellite companies to evolve their business to support the business plan of the video players. Echoing similar sentiments, Alistair Roseburgh, Director, Operations APAC, A+E Networks Asia, noted that satellite remains the choice of delivery for their core pay TV business. Diversification and experimentation in businesses is also more common compared to the past. While FAST (Free Ad-Supported TV) has not yet gained much traction in Asia, Rajeev Gambhir, Senior Director (Technology & Policy), SatCom Industry Association, asked fellow panelists about their predictions and what more needs to be done. Alistair highlighted the need for more flexibility such as the pay as you go model which is commonly used by cloud services and the ability to launch and discontinue a service quickly depending on its popularity. While Sanjay stressed on the need for integration with other technologies to deliver seamless connectivity to the consumer.

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