[SatNews] Euroconsult has announced that, despite a limited market slowdown, the fixed satellite market reached a new high in revenues last year. According to Euroconsult’s soon-to-be-released report “Satellite Communications & Broadcasting Markets Survey, Forecasts to 2019,” the fixed satellite sector grew both in terms of transponder demand (+5.3 percent) and revenue reaching $10.3 billion revenue in 2009.

Euroconsult maintains a positive outlook for the future of the industry. Television broadcasting and emerging markets continue to be the primary growth drivers, with satellite broadband service (“BBS”) systems contributing to growth as well. “Operators’ revenue grew in 2009 — albeit at a slower pace than the previous year, — due to sustained capacity demand in emerging markets” said Pacôme Revillon, CEO at Euroconsult. “This combined with an average operating margin for the industry that increased to 35 percent last year and a global fill rate of 77 percent underscores the good health of the satellite sector, and we forecast 6 percent revenue growth in 2010.” Despite these positive results, growth last year was still somewhat constrained (especially compared to record revenue growth in 2008) due to modest capacity additions, high fill rates and the impact of the economic crisis.