The World Teleport Association (WTA) has published its annual Inside the Top Operators research report. The report draws from data submitted to WTA by teleport operating companies around the world for the association’s 2008 Top Operator rankings.
The 2008 Top Operators, announced on November 11, 2008, told a story of strong growth and diversification. While membership in the Top Operators changes from year to year, over 20 companies have submitted data consistently for the past three years, providing a clear “snapshot” of the teleport sector as represented by the Top Operators. With US$8.5 billion in revenue, these companies racked up combined revenue growth of 42 percent from 2006 to 2008.
From 2005 to 2008, many leading teleport operators spoke about diversifying their businesses out of satellite to fiber transmission. More than one large operator stopped using the word “teleport” in marketing materials in favor of “access points” or “nodes” — the language of fiber rather than satellite carriers. According to WTA, what was actually happening was a continued diversification out of being just a “pipe” for the transmission of video, data and voice into services that employ resources within the walls of the teleport to generate revenue. he Top Operators increased the average percentage of revenue coming from teleport and value-added services, and reduced the revenue earned from transmission. Fiber and microwave revenues fell much more sharply than did satellite.
According to the 2008 survey results, 33 percent of the Top Operators earn at least 50 percent of revenue from the broadcast, cable and DTH sector, but twice that number earn at least 25 percent from enterprise networking. Interestingly, mobile applications, excluding mobile backhaul, have risen from effectively zero a few years ago to be the dominant revenue source for 7 percent of the Top Operators. During the last four years, teleport owners have been largely successful in gradually increasing the prices of the teleport and value-added services they offer. The tightening satellite capacity market, however, has resulted in sharply higher prices at the wholesale and resale levels over the same period. Inside the Top Operators of 2008 is available free to WTA members from the World Teleport Association Web site at www.worldteleport.org.
